Ye Shall Compass the City

Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour, And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. (Joshua 6:1-3)

Try to picture yourself as one of Joshua's generals hearing this plan for the first time: “Walk around the city. Just walk. Do it again tomorrow. And the next day.” It was six days straight of marching in a circle with no explanation of what it's accomplishing. That's not a strategy any general would come up with on his own. There's no recon happening here. No one is sneaking around and scouting the walls for weak points. They're not doing anything but obeying, one lap at a time, with zero visible progress for six straight days. If you were watching from outside, you'd think nothing was happening at all.

Following God by faith doesn’t always come with natural visible evidence of what is happening behind the scenes. Joshua had to walk by faith and not by sight. When God tells you to do something, you are called to follow without knowing every bit of “how” or “why.”

As Joshua walked on day seven, everything changed all at once. The people cried out by faith, and the walls fell. The people were defeated, and the city was taken. All that obedience, which looked like it was accomplishing nothing, turned out to be exactly what broke open what the enemy had locked them out of.

Sometimes the instruction doesn't make sense until after you've already done it. Just obey.

Practical Application

If God's told you to do something and you can’t seem to understand the point or it feels repetitive, keep doing it anyway. The breakthrough often shows up right after the part that looked like nothing was happening. Just obey.

Proverbs 3:5; 1 Samuel 15:22