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A Silent Siege
Joshua 6:1-5 says, “1Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. 5And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.”
Many of us have heard the story concerning the walls of Jericho falling down. We remember the infamous shouting on the seventh day following the march of the children of Israel around this city seven times. Oftentimes, we will even mimic this very same strategy in our church services in hopes that principalities residing over certain cities or regions will come down. However, by applying these principles, we have missed the whole purpose of this entire event, especially when it was not the shouting that did the trick. It was the period of silence and the march of obedience before the shouting that made all of the difference!
Hebrews 11:30 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” Scripture does not say that it was the shouting that caused the walls to fall, but it was faith executed through obedience. As they marched around the city, they were not singing or shouting. More than likely, they were praying! They were not only declaring these walls to fall through their obedience, but they were in silence, being sensitive to the voice of God. If you are the one always doing the talking and shouting, you never take the time to listen to God’s voice, and when He speaks and you obey His voice, things begin to change! Shouting and praising the LORD will no doubt welcome the presence of the LORD and make you feel better, but you must position yourself to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). The volume of your praise will never cancel out the noise of your sin. If you shout every single service in your dance and song, but you are living in disobedience, you are not operating under the blessings and favor of God, but rather under a curse of sin. Therefore, instead of reliving spiritually the walls of Jericho falling, you will relive the time in 1 Samuel 4 when the children of Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battle and the Philistines overcame them, even slaughtering the priesthood, because sin was in the camp. By spending time in prayer through silence and meditation, we are more equipped to listen to the comforting grace of God’s voice and His command with which comes great reward! All we have to do is simply obey!