Radical Obedience and the walls of Jericho

I can’t imagine how ready Joshua was to get into the Promised Land. God had told him to be strong and courageous and so he stepped out in faith. They spied out the land and got a good report. God dried up the Jordan River so they could pass through it. They aligned themselves with God and were ready to face Jericho.

However, God’s plan for taking Jericho didn’t involve military tactics, it involved a display of his power through Israel’s radical obedience. Joshua 6:4 says, “Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.” Then, when the trumpets blow and the people shout, the walls of Jericho would come crashing down.

Notice how the number 7 is repeated four times in that verse alone. The number 7 reflects completion and perfection in the Bible, just as it was in 7 days that God created the earth. What this tells us is that even though God’s command to Joshua might look silly, God’s plans are always the right plans. God’s proposal demanded radical obedience. It demanded that Joshua would do something that would get him laughed at. This was God’s perfect plan for Joshua and the destruction of Jericho.

Are you prepared to embrace God’s will and respond with a radical kind of obedience?  God’s plan may appear silly to onlookers, but at the end of the day, it’s God’s plan…and his plans are marked by perfection. As a radical followers of Jesus, you may get labeled and insulted, but radical obedience and courageous faith trusts God and follows him at any cost.