And the Walls Came Tumblin’ Down
(Scripture passage- Joshua 6: 1-20)
By Rev. Max Creswell
I heard a
story once about a pastor who wanted to check up on the quality of the
education the children were receiving in Sunday School, so one day he dropped
in on a class. He picked out a bright looking young boy and asked, “Who knocked
down the walls of Jericho?” The little boy thought for a moment and then
answered, “I don’t know sir, but it sure wasn’t me.” The preacher was stunned
at the boy’s limited knowledge of the Bible. He looked at the teacher, who
tried to soothe his alarm. She said, “Now, pastor, Johnny is a good boy and if
he says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it!” Well, the minister decided he
better take the whole matter to the deacons. He told them the whole story and
said this problem had to be resolved immediately. The deacons said they’d talk
about it and sure enough the next morning the chairman telephoned the pastor.
He said, “Pastor, just tell me where this wall is; we’ll have it fixed right
away and send the bill to the insurance company.”
Most of us
would probably do better if we were asked, “Who knocked down the walls of
Jericho” because the story that I just read from the Old Testament scripture captures
the imagination. It has that element of suspense. It’s full of action. It has a
great moral, but it has even more: it tells us that we can dare to attempt the
impossible with God. That’s what Joshua did at Jericho. Under God’s orders, he
attempted the impossible. You’ve got to like that kind of faith, and hope and
courage.
Can you put
yourself in Joshua’s shoes (sandals) for a minute: You’re the leader of a band
of refugees who have been wandering around in the wilderness for over 40 years.
Your great leader, Moses, has died and you have been appointed his successor.
Now God has just given you your orders: You are to capture the Promised Land.
Compared to that, all that wandering around in the desert was a cake walk. You’ve
just entered enemy territory. There, right in front of you sits the key city of
the land of Canaan- the city of Jericho. Unless this city falls, you have no
chance of gaining your objective, but the task seems impossible. The city has
high walls from which the soldiers will throw spears, shoot arrows, and pour
boiling oil on you. A direct assault on the city would be military suicide, but
God told you to take the city. You must attempt the impossible.
God says to
Joshua, “I’m putting Jericho into your hands.” Joshua had the faith to believe
that that would happen. He could have counted the cost and said, “Thanks a lot,
Lord, but I don’t have the time…the campaign would cost too much money…I don’t
think it will work.” But he didn’t. He attempted the impossible. God said, “I’m
putting Jericho into your hands.”
It is both
thrilling and threatening to discover that God has put Jericho into your hands.
It’s thrilling because we come alive when we’re faced with that kind of
challenge, but it’s also threatening: the stakes are high and the odds are
against you. The chance of failure is great and another thing: people who
attempt the impossible are open to ridicule and derision of lesser persons. I
can only imagine the reaction in Jericho the first day they watched the Hebrews
marching around their city blowing those horns.
People of
God in every age ought to be characterized as those who have Jericho in their
hands. People who dare to attempt the impossible because they dare to trust God’s
promise.
What is your
Jericho? What impossible situation dare you attempt because God put the
assignment into your hands? Think of one thing- one crazy, impossible thing.
Now, how did Joshua succeed?
First he had
inspiration. We must have it or else Jericho will always be an unsolvable
problem. To inspire means “to breathe in.” At Creation, God breathed into you
the breath of life. When we are filled with God’s Spirit, we are “inspired.”
Nothing will ever be accomplished, if we don’t first believe it can be done.
Let me give
you an example, a true story: A young 19 year old man was trying to get a start
in the field of advertising. It’s a very competitive field, but he believed his
abilities were every bit as good as the next person’s. One of the most coveted
contracts in this city was the local Hilton Hotel; every advertising firm was
trying to get that account. When word got around that this green kid was going
to try, too, he was the joke. Everyone knew that was impossible. The young man received an appointment to make
a presentation before the board of directors. He was seated next to an older
man and as the conversation progressed he realized that he was seated next to
the boss himself, Conrad Hilton. He fought off the jitters and made his pitch
the best he could. When he finished, Conrad Hilton said to him, “Why should I
trust such a young man with an expensive project such as this?” The young man
gulped and answered, “Yes, I am young, but Michelangelo was only 15 years old
when the church commissioned him to carve the statue of David. If no one had
trusted him, we might never have known his worth. Now I’m not saying I’m
another Michelangelo, but then if no one is willing to take a chance, we will
never know.” Conrad Hilton looked at him squarely: “You got the job.”
You see, to
attempt the impossible, you’ve got to BELIEVE it IS possible. You have to be
inspired- by the Spirit of God.
But then,
you must ATTEMPT the impossible, not merely dream about it. The only way to
move a mountain is to remove the first stone. The only way to make a journey is
to take the first step. The only way to build a wall is to lay the first brick.
Get into gear. I believe that when God puts Jericho into our hands, he also has
a plan to make the walls come tumblin’ down. Joshua was a good soldier. No
doubt he considered several ways to attack Jericho. Some might have worked and
probably marching around the city for six days with trumpets blowing was not
one of them! The point is: God will reveal the best method of operation. His wisdom,
His strength is utterly reliable. We must get into gear.
One last
thing about attempting the impossible: nothing impossible was ever accomplished
without HARD WORK. Thomas Edison said that success is 10% inspiration and 90%
perspiration. It’s not easy to do the impossible. Most people would rather
accept the impossible than try to change it.
There’s a
book with the intriguing title: 19 Steps Up the Mountain. It’s the story of a
couple who adopted ten children. Each child was handicapped or challenged in
one way or another- their young bodies broken or blinded from neglect or from
war. Now there were 19 steps up the staircase in their home and without
exception every child who arrived in that home was convinced that he or she
would never be able to make that climb. The book tells of each child’s attempt to
climb the staircase. It’s a parable of each of our attempts to do something
impossible. First came the realization that it just might be possible after
all, then the first attempt: it didn’t work, then came the hard work, months of
it, finally, that moment of triumph when each child stood at the top of the
mountain hearing the cheers of the rest of the family.
We become
each child because we all have hard mountains to climb: maybe relationships
that have been destroyed, maybe business ventures that have turned into
disaster, maybe destructive habits that have gotten the best of us, maybe
health issues that surround every day with worry and fear. We each have a
mountain, but the measure of a person, the measure of a church, the measure of
a nation can be seen in its attempts. Our true nature, who we are, is never
measured by our height, but by our reach.
The Lord
says to you today, “I have put Jericho into your hands.”
