When God’s Plans Make No Sense

JOSHUA 6:1–27 (ESV)

“When God’s Plan Makes No Sense”

Ricky Powell, Sr. Pastor  ·  First Baptist Church, Blairsville, GA

Sermon as Delivered (Lightly Edited)  ·  April 13, 2026

God doesn’t expect me to understand His plan, but to obey it and to trust Him.

INTRODUCTION

Today we’re in Joshua chapter six, the walls of Jericho. We’ve been in a series of messages, and we paused for Palm Sunday and Easter, but we’re picking back up today. And I want to cover the whole chapter as we talk about when God’s plans make no sense.

I was reading the testimony of a father who shared about watching his son walk away from faith. He said:

“I did it all. I argued with him. I tried to get him to read books. I shared podcasts with him. I went along to workshops to learn how to better connect with him. But it seemed like the more I pried, prodded, and pushed him to return to the faith, the more he locked his knees and refused to budge. Finally, I realized that the battle wasn’t the kind of battle that could be won through my own logic, intelligence, or persuasion. To see my son come back to faith in Christ, I had to battle in prayer. My greatest weapon was the quiet, calm assurance that the weapons I must use are not worldly. They aren’t the fruit of my own cunning. My weapons of love, prayer and faith seemed illogical, but I knew that these walls of rebellion were too big for me to knock down without them.”---Campbell, Jesse. "Joshua 6: A Strategy for Spiritual Warfare." Explore the Bible, Lifeway Christian Resources, 12 Dec. 2016, explorethebible.lifeway.com/blog/adults/joshua-6-a-strategy-for-spiritual-warfare/.

That father realized his back was against a wall, the wall of his son’s unbelief. And having tried it all, he finally had to say: God, this is too big for me. I can’t do this. I cannot change another person’s heart. But I can trust You to do what I can’t do.

Maybe today you’re facing a wall that seems insurmountable. It could be a prodigal son or daughter you’re praying for. It could be a marriage that feels like it’s on its last leg. Maybe for you it’s a recent diagnosis. Maybe it’s a financial situation where you’ve run out of options.

Well, I’ve got good news for you today. We still serve the God of impossible situations. He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. And what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Before we start reading in Joshua chapter six, I want to set the stage. Our chapter divisions were not part of the original manuscripts; they were added later to help us find our place. But sometimes those divisions cut things off. If we just start in chapter six verse one, we forget what happened at the end of chapter five.

Pastor John Dixon preached Joshua chapter five a few weeks ago, and he got to the end of the chapter where Joshua is walking around, probably surveying the situation as military commander, and he is confronted by a man with a drawn sword. Joshua doesn’t know who this is. He asks: are you on our side or on the enemy’s side?

The response: “I am the captain of the Lord’s army.” As one country preacher put it: “I didn’t come to take sides. I came to take over. Joshua, you’re not the commander. This is the Lord’s battle.”

And with that, we pick up in chapter six. I want to walk through these verses together and point out four responses you can take when you face an impossible situation.

POINT 1: Trust God (vv. 1–7)

The first response when you’re facing an impossible situation is to trust God. Trust God even when it doesn’t make sense. Trust God when it’s confusing. Trust God even when His Word may seem strange to you.

“Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.”  --  Joshua 6:1

Jericho, according to archaeologists, was one of the most fortified ancient cities in the Promised Land. About 750 feet below sea level, two massive parallel walls, separated by about fifteen feet, so that as the city grew, people started building their homes within the walls. You remember where Rahab the prostitute lived? She lived in the wall, near the gate. This is a very strong, fortified city, and it has been battened down for what they expect to be a long siege.

The only thing open is one window in the wall where a scarlet cord is hanging down. That’s where Rahab lives. We’ll see her later in the story.

To the military mind, looking at Jericho meant facing an impenetrable, insurmountable obstacle. But here’s what the Lord says:

“And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.’”  --  Joshua 6:2

The Lord says: “See, I have,”  -- past tense, “I have already given Jericho to you with its king and its mighty men.” Joshua, you do not have to go and fight for victory. You’ll fight from victory because I’ve already given it to you.

Faith is that gap between what God has said and what you can see. There are going to be times when what God has said and what you can see seem like polar opposites. But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith says: God, You have spoken. I can’t see it, I can’t touch it, I can’t understand it. But I believe You, and I’m going to put my trust in You.

Many years ago, I was first called into ministry. I was seventeen years old, and my pastor sent me after school one day to make a visit. He said: “Hey, when you get out of school, before you go to work, why don’t you stop at South Georgia Medical Center? There’s a senior adult lady battling cancer. I want you to go visit her.”

I said: aren’t you going to meet me there?

He said: nope. You’re doing it on your own. I want you to go minister to her, encourage her, and pray for her.

I was nervous. I didn’t like hospitals. But I did what my pastor asked me to do. And I went into Ms. Touchton’s room. And instead of me encouraging her, she encouraged me. Her faith was so strong.

She said: “Now, young man, I need you to do something for me. I want you to go back to church, print out the words of Proverbs 3:5–6, and have them put on a big poster board. Then I want you to bring that poster board back and tape it to the wall at the foot of my bed, so that every day I can look at it.”

I said: yes, ma’am  --  acting like I knew what Proverbs 3:5–6 said. I got back in my car. What is Proverbs 3:5–6?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  --  Proverbs 3:5–6

When I brought that back to her, she said: that’s my life’s verse. No matter what I’m going through, even when I don’t like it and I don’t understand it, I’ve learned to trust in Him.

Can I tell you that’s where I learned that scripture? And I’ve learned the truth of it only as I’ve gone through hard times  --  only as I’ve faced impossible situations, only as my wife and I have looked at each other and said: we don’t know what to do here. We don’t have the answer for this. In those moments, I remember what that senior adult lady taught me. Trust in the Lord and in all your ways acknowledge Him.

So if you’re taking notes, the first response is: trust God.

Now look at verses 3 through 7:

“You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 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. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”  --  Joshua 6:3–5

“So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.’ And he said to the people, ‘Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.’”  --  Joshua 6:6–7

Joshua gets his instructions about this military campaign and he doesn’t say: wait a minute  --  that’s a terrible strategy. We’re going to get some preachers with trumpets and the Ark of the Covenant and circle the walls, and everybody’s going to be silent except for the blast of the trumpet and the sound of feet marching? This is not how battles are won. This is not how cities are taken. But Joshua doesn’t reject God’s instructions. He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t do what Baptists do  --  form a committee and say we need to study this before we move forward. Instead, he just passes on the instructions of the Lord to the priests and to the people.

Trust in the Lord. Even when it doesn’t make sense.

POINT 2: Obey God (vv. 8–14)

The second response when you’re facing an impossible situation is to obey God. How do you know you’re trusting God? It’s when you’re obeying God. You show your faith when you step out and live out what He’s called you to do, even when it doesn’t make sense.

Having received the instructions, the procession begins. Armed men out front, seven priests blowing rams’ horns  --  not military weapons but worship instruments, instruments of praise to God. The Ark of the Covenant. The rear guard following. And the people, in silence, under strict orders from Joshua and the Lord not to say a word.

“So it was that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, ‘You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.’”  --  Joshua 6:8–10

Can you imagine what the inhabitants of Jericho must have thought as they watched this scene unfold? “Day one  --  get ready, everyone. Here they come. They’re not shouting. They’re not yelling. They’re not cursing. What are they doing? They’re just… marching. And then they went back to camp. That’s odd.”

Day one. Day two. Day three. Even though the people of Israel are remaining silent, I can only imagine the people of Jericho are yelling insults at them by this point. “How dumb you people must be to think this is going to work.”

“So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going around it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. On the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.”  --  Joshua 6:11–14

Six days. Six days of faith. Six days of trust. Six days of obedience to God.

What was God doing? Was He trying to frighten the people of Jericho? No. He was trying to fortify the people of Israel. He was building their faith in Him. When the victory comes, you’ll know it wasn’t you that did it. You’ll know that it was the Lord.

And this is where God often has to work hard on me. Because the easiest thing I do as your pastor is preach about faith in God. Do you know what the hardest thing I do is? Practice what I preach. I know that I’m supposed to trust God, but sometimes it’s easy to trust God on day one. When nothing changes, day two gets a little harder. Day three gets a little harder. Day six, or six months, or ten years, and you’ve been trusting God but haven’t seen Him come through yet is when your faith is tested. The enemy wants to tempt you to abandon your faith. God tests you to develop it, to strengthen it.

How does God develop our muscles of faith? By testing us over time to see if we’ll trust Him and obey Him even when it doesn’t make sense, even when God doesn’t show up on our timeline or in the way we thought He should.

POINT 3: Watch God (vv. 15–25)

The third response is to watch God. Watch God work, watch God act, and give Him praise.

Day seven arrives and everything is different.

“On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.”  --  Joshua 6:15

The number seven is important. It is a picture of perfection and completeness. It is God’s number. And it’s a reminder that God created the earth in six days and on the seventh day He rested. And on this seventh day, God is going to give this city to His people.

“And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ‘Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. The city and all that is in it are devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.’”  --  Joshua 6:16–19

“So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.”  --  Joshua 6:20

We sometimes teach our children to sing: Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho; Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. It’s a great song until you realize  --  Joshua didn’t fight a battle. The Lord fought the battle. And the walls came tumbling down.

“Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.”  --  Joshua 6:21

I want to pause at that moment. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, or even if you’re not a Christian and you’ve read the Bible, you come to Joshua chapter six, verse twenty-one, and you say, “Whoa. Back up. What?” And if Joshua chapter six doesn’t trouble you, you might not be reading it clearly.

The Hebrew word is herem. It means devoted to destruction; this belongs to the Lord. It’s His, not yours. It’s actually a contrast to another Hebrew word—hesed. Herem means destruction. But hesed is often translated as loving kindness, covenant-keeping love, and loyalty. And we serve a God who is a God of both justice and righteousness  --  and also a God of love and mercy. We see both right here in Joshua chapter six.

Some skeptics will say this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing. I would push back on that. It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with response to God. Rahab is a Canaanite. She had been a pagan-worshiping prostitute. She had heard the same message about the God of Israel  --  that He is the one true living God who is righteous and holy and will judge sin, but who also offers forgiveness and mercy to those who will turn to Him. And she, out of all the inhabitants of the city, is the only one who responded to God’s grace and mercy.

We learn in Genesis, during the life of Abraham, over four hundred years before Joshua chapter six, that God said He would one day judge the Canaanites  --  but that their sin was not yet full. So for over four hundred years God warned this people that judgment was coming. And only Rahab repented and believed.

We also need to be reminded that Joshua chapter six was a unique moment in redemptive history. What is God doing here? He’s fulfilling the covenant He made with Abraham in Genesis chapter twelve. God promised Abraham: I’m going to give you descendants, I’m going to make you a great nation, I’m going to give you a land. Joshua chapter six is God now fulfilling that part of the covenant.

And God also promised Abraham: through your family, all the nations of the earth will be blessed  --  meaning, through the Hebrew people I will send My Messiah, My Son, the Savior of the world. If the Hebrew people march into a pagan land and intermix with these people and their evil, idolatrous practices  --  including offering their own children in the flames to the god Molech  --  the whole redemptive plan of salvation could be destroyed. That’s why Satan wanted to destroy the Hebrew people from the beginning. To keep Jesus from ever being born.

Even when you know all the theology and all the history, it is still hard to read verse 21. And I want to challenge you  --  do not doubt in the dark what God has clearly revealed in the light. There is a lot about God that is mysterious to us, especially when we are separated from these events by cultures and centuries. It is understandable to come to a verse like this and be troubled. But do not doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.

And what has He revealed? He’s a good God. A saving God. A healing God. A righteous and holy God.

And you know what really ought to scandalize us? Not that God would judge sinners. Romans 3:23  --  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23  --  the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What really ought to scandalize us is that God would save sinners. That’s the scandalous part.

When John Newton was an old man  --  the pastor who had written Amazing Grace, a man saved out of the slave trade, a wicked man until Jesus changed his life  --  he said to his congregation one morning: “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

The God of Joshua chapter six is not a different God than the God of the New Testament. He’s the same God. He’s the God of John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:16–19, NKJV)

What did God do on the cross of Calvary? He took the herem  --  the destruction, the condemnation that you and I deserve for our sin  --  and He placed it on His own Son, who died for us. And Jesus rose from the dead, having knocked down the wall of the tomb. And He walked out alive.

I don't have enough time this morning to do this justice. I would mention a few books that might help you. One is called " How to Hold on to Your Faith in God When God Doesn't Make Sense,” by the late James Dobson. Another book to read: “Is God a Moral Monster?” By Paul Copan. Copan argues that when we read verses like verse 21, it's hyperbole. It's military language. It's like saying that the Union County High School football team just decimated that other team from Towns County. Probably true, but do we really mean that, or are we just speaking in figurative language? So he argues from that angle.

And then there's a book by Chris Wright, “The God I Don’t Understand.” And he deals with this chapter. I would encourage you to read those.

But I go to the cross. I go to the empty tomb. I go to Jesus, who did not shy away from the Old Testament, but said his Father is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He's this God of Joshua 6. And because Jesus said, when you pray, you can cry out, our Father, who art in heaven, I am going to trust Him with the mysteries of His ways, and I am going to trust His goodness.

“Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.’ So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.”  --  Joshua 6:22–24

“But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”  --  Joshua 6:25

Grace and judgment, side by side, in the same moment. Jericho falls. And one family walks out alive  --  because one woman believed what she had heard about the God of Israel and staked everything on it. A scarlet cord in a window. A faith that looked as foolish as marching around a wall.

POINT 4: Honor God (vv. 26–27)

The fourth response is to honor God  --  to give Him glory and honor after the victory.

“Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, ‘Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.’ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.”  --  Joshua 6:26–27

When Jericho is destroyed, there’s no going back. We will not give the enemy another foothold in God’s land. And by the way, a few hundred years after Joshua, a man named Hiel during the reign of King Ahab tried to rebuild Jericho  --  and he lost both of his sons, as we read in 1 Kings chapter sixteen. But that’s another sermon for another day.

Did you notice that next verse? So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was in all the land. The people of Israel and the people of Canaan knew the name Joshua. Why? Because the Lord was with him. It was never about Joshua. It was always about the Lord.

“for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.” (Psalm 44:3, ESV)

To God be the glory. Great things He has done.

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” (Hebrews 11:30, ESV)

CONCLUSION

Here’s the bottom-line that God kept bringing to me this week as I studied this passage:

God doesn’t expect me to always understand His plan, but to obey it and to trust Him.

Maybe that’s what He’s calling you to do in your impossible situation.

That father I mentioned at the beginning of our talk, well he said his son came back to faith in Christ years later. His son’s faith is stronger and more vibrant than ever. To God be the glory!

If you have never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then I want to encourage you to trust Him toay.

The greatest impossible situation any of us will ever face is our sin problem. But Jesus came to do what we could not do for ourselves. He fought the battle and won the victory. And now we don’t have to fight for it or earn it. We receive the victory when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior.

CLOSING PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your holy Word. And I thank You that we can rest in You even as we wrestle with the mysteries of You. Father, I pray that today we would recognize that You don’t call us to always understand Your plan, but to obey it, to trust You in it, to keep our faith in You, and to give You praise as You win the victory.

God, we thank You for loving us. We thank You for Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise You made to Abraham, that all the families of the earth would be blessed. Because Jesus came for the world.

Father, we catch a glimpse of Rahab, and we recognize ourselves in her, a sinner saved by grace. And we recognize ourselves in Jericho, under Your judgment for sin. And yet You offer salvation to all who will believe.

We pray, Father, that this morning every Christian in this room would give You praise for saving them by Your grace through faith in Jesus. And Father, if there is someone here who has never received Christ, that today, before it is eternally too late, they would turn from their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

God doesn’t expect me to understand His plan, but to obey it and to trust Him.