His Will, His Way

Joshua 5:13-6:27

God tells Joshua his detailed non-sensical plan to take the walled city of Jericho. Joshua communicates the detailed plan to the people of Israel. The people carry out the plan exactly and are victorious, destroying Jericho and its people entirely, sparing only Rahab and her household.

They discover His Will and His Way. They follow it. They win.

Whenever and however we can catch a glimpse of His Way, doing it any other way would be stupid.

The Best Way

We are late, driving through the hills of West Virginia. Roads aren’t straight, highways are non-existent, signs are optional. We had to make it to the church on time. We are lost finding a town called “Lost Creek”.

This was in those ancient days before GPS could give us detailed directions, step by step, guiding us along as we go in a friendly robot voice.

We were roughing it old school. We had a thing called a map… but we couldn’t make the paper map match all these twists and turns and dead ends. So, shame of shames, we stopped at a gas station to ask directions.

And this guy is a local, but kind of a taciturn guy. A man of few words. He knows exactly where we are going. He recognizes the name of the church… you can see the recognition in his face. He sits there for a moment, nods slowly and gives us the greatest directions of all time.

“Yeah, you want to go Right, right, right, left at the Mavericks.”

In the van arguing about which “rights” count as one of the “right, right, right” and keeping our eye out for what could possibly be the “Mavericks”. Knowing, that if we could just understand and apply these directions correctly, we would finally get where we were going.

And those directions are all that we have. Our map doesn’t make sense. We don’t know where we are in relationship to it. We only have “right, right, right, left at the Mavericks.” So this is our mantra, this is our command, this is our mission. Our guiding light.

We never figured out where the Mavericks were… but we turned right and right and right… at least three times, then we caught sight of the church off down a street to our left and made it just in time.

Total success, and all we had to is go “right, right, right, left at the Mavericks.”

Google Maps. There is room for some creativity within the directions…

What is the right way? What is the best way? Is there a best way?

And if there is a best way, why would you ever do it any other way?

One Way to Jericho

The Obstacle

(The walled city found by archaeology predates the apparent events in Joshua by 6000+ years.)

Jericho, a walled city of the ___ people upon whom God is bringing judgment. He told Abraham 100 years ago that he would not judge them yet for “their iniquity was not yet complete”… but the time has come.

The ancient city of Jericho took up approximately 6-9 acres (compare to church property?) and was surrounded by mud wall approximately 6 feet thick and 12-17 feet high. When you don’t have siege engines, that’s impregnable. The city was fed by an internal water spring so they would have to be starved out.

So to walk around the city of Jericho, we are likely talking about ½ mile. Not exactly a marathon.

The Angel Appears

Joshua 5:13-15

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Lord’s Plan

Joshua 6:1-7

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 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. 5 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.” 6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” 7 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.”

That is a weird plan.

Sonic vibrations that weaken the walls foundations? Don’t think so. It is pretty much nonsensical. It doesn’t fit any theory of warfare.

So they do it. They get up, they ark goes out. One day. Then the next. Early in the morning, march around. So they did for six days.

And then… early in the morning…

Joshua 6:15-21

15 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. 16 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.

And then Joshua gives them a reminder, from all the way back with Moses, that all the inhabitants of the land are to be devoted to the LORD for destruction. They are under God’s judgment…

17 And the city and all that is within it shall be 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. 18 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. 19 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.”

They have their instructions, they have marched around seven times and so…

20 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. 21 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.

Absolute success. Complete and total victory. The victory was so great, Joshua lays a curse on any man who rises up and rebuilds Jericho. (Jericho has been rebuilt since, so I wonder if they lost their firstborn and youngest son).

The people of Israel follow God’s plan and they get to be part of God’s victory. Joshua hears God’s Will, leads the people in God’s Way, and it leads to God’s Win.

Detailed Plan

Joshua hears God’s Will through his messenger. And that gives the outline of the plan. A few “to-do’s”.

Joshua also recalls what God has previously commanded, reminding the people of God’s command to devote the Canaanites to destruction.

God communicates the plan… and it is bizarre. But this is still an outline. There is a daily to-do: march around the city. But the direction and the organization, the order of march by tribe, the precise timing of the march, all of that is left up to Joshua. God sets the agenda for the day: one lap around the city.

On the seventh day there is a little more detail. Seven times around, 3.5 miles, so they are walking a 5k that morning. It’s mainly a challenge for the priests carrying the ark! Joshua presumably carries out all the organizational details, fills in the outline God has given.

God gives a few simple: todo’s… and one giant do not! Repeating his earlier command, and Joshua is about to remind them: do not take or keep anything from Jericho. All of it is “devoted to destruction” except the silver and gold which would go to the temple. No looting (except for God, he gets the good stuff).

God had previously communicated the Promise: the Promised Land

God’s Will For You

2017 and New Years Resolutions. It isn’t self-improvement. Self-actualization. Growth. Impact.

What is God’s will for you.

What does God want me to do here? What doesn’t God want me to do here?

Fast forward to when you know… because sometimes you know. Sometimes you know what the right thing to do is, what the wise thing is, what the godly thing is.

If you have any hint, any guidelines to that, any Word from God, any boundaries… follow them. Anything else would be stupid.

That’s a harsh word. But we know, in our heads, we know that God’s Will is, really by definition, always the best way. We know that He sees things we do not see, knows things we do not know. He has the perspective of eternity and the wisdom of ages. He is the shaping power of the Universe. His Way is the best Way.

So what would you call it when you know something is going to hurt us and we do it anyway? Stupid.

What would you call it when you know the right way to do something for maximum success and you don’t do it? Stupid.

Don’t be stupid. Discover His Will. Walk in His Way.

Where I have sin, especially habitual patterns of sin… I know it isn’t His Will. I know it isn’t His Way. If I want the kind of joy and fulfillment and success (success in His Kingdom, not success as the world defines it)… if I want “Promised Land” success I need to walk in His Way! Without compromise.

Because it is HARD to take a next bold step forward if I am walking the Wrong Way.

We want to be his people chasing after His way. We remind ourselves again and again that is His next step we are after, the next bold step as directed and commanded and Willed by Him. Not our next great idea for self-improvement, self-actualization and growth.

We seek His Will in His Word. We listen for His Will through His Messengers. We are guided into His Will through His Spirit. And so we take next step after next step in His Way into the Promised Land.