Obtaining the Promised Land

     After the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, they spent some time fulfilling the commandments of God.  This included circumcising the men, keeping the Passover, and preparing their own meals from the fruit of the land (the Lord stopped sending manna).  This time would soon pass, however, and the time would finally come to take the city Jericho.
     Jericho was a walled city.  When I think about battles of old where one side is trying to take a walled city, I think of battles like those in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  There should be siege engines like battering rams and ladders.  The battles are vicious and many soldiers die over the course of the fighting.  You would think the battle for Jericho should be the same type of battle.
     Yet the Lord God had a different plan.  He was going to let the children of Israel know just how much He would stand at their head and fight their battles for them.  So an angel was sent to give Joshua instructions.  The armies of Israel were commanded to march around the city once per day for six days.  On the seventh day the army would march around the city seven times, blow on their horns, and shout.  After they had followed the Lord’s command and completed these activities, the walls of the city would fall and the children of Israel would be able to take command of the city.
     Joshua gave the commandments to his people.  They marched around the city for the next seven days and shouted at the appropriate time.  The walls of the city fell and the children of Israel possessed the land without any loss of life that we have record of.  They conquered the city in what I believe is one of the easiest recorded battle victories in the history of the world.
     Spend a few minutes thinking about the message the Lord is trying to give us through this story.  The children of Israel in this story represent each and every one of us individually.  The Lord has a promised land for us to possess.  That promised land is a celestial existence with God.  It’s a life living like God.  It involves eternal increase and glory, infinite happiness and joy, and constant companionship with our families and God.
     The problem is there are walls standing between us and this promised land.  The children of Israel faced the walls of Jericho as they began their journey into their land of promise.  We face walls of trials, troubles, and tribulation.  And the walls are different for each of us.  For some of us these walls come in the form of physical ailments such as diabetes, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.  Some face walls of the mental nature, such as clinical depression, Alzheimer’s disease, or anxiety.  Some face walls of temptation, sin, and transgression.
     It doesn’t matter what the wall is.  The simple fact is we all face some sort of wall in our journey to the promised land of bounty the Lord has extended to us.  In fact we will most likely face many of these walls.  The children of Israel did as they conquered the inhabitants of the land.  We will as we conquer the obstacles we face. 
     As we come across these walls in our lives, we ought to be able to turn to this story for comfort.  There’s a simple reason why this story should be comforting to us.  It’s the message the Lord has given us.  That message is that He knows what walls we face, and He knows how to help us conquer them.  All we have to do is follow the instructions He gives us with faith.  He will take care of the rest.
     Now I want to clarify something at this point.  This story does not serve as a promise to the ease with which your wall will fall.  The children of Israel had what seemed to be an easy victory over their wall at this time.  But later in their history we learn the Israelites had some more difficult walls to overcome.  Our walls could fall tomorrow.  They could fall in two weeks, two months, two years, or two decades.  It may even be that we have to face this wall for the rest of our mortal life, tasting victory only when we come before Jesus in hope and faith to face our judgment. 
     The promise is that the Lord our God stands ready to help us with our walls and that He will ultimately help us conquer the walls after we have obediently and faithfully done all He asks of us.  Furthermore we have the promise that the land of promise is ours after we follow Him in faith.  We will stand in the bountiful land, partaking of the delicious fruits of eternal life.  This is the promise given through this story (and so many other stories in the history of the scriptures).  This is our promise from God for faithful obedience.