Joshua 6:12-15, “And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.”
Joshua and the Israelites’ victory at Jericho is a prime example of obeying all the way through. Israel did not just march around the city one day or every other day. They did not wait until the seventh day and then march around the city thirteen times. They did not rotate tribes for the march. They faithfully followed God’s Word every step of the way. Silent march after silent march, all the way until God did what He said He would do. This is how we move forward, trusting God’s promise with perseverance and persistence.
Our natural expectation is for God to do for us, and for Him to do for us now. That is especially true in our consumeristic culture of immediacy. Who wants to wait? Who wants to persevere? Not many people today, and that often is true in our churches.
We need to learn, or be reminded, that not only is there no substitute for complete obedience to God, but we are to obey day after day, in every situation and for every circumstance. When God does not act as quickly as we think He should or according to our preconceived notions of how He should act, we are still not justified in pulling back or adopting an alternative procedure. A.W. Pink wrote, “Seeming failure did not warrant them in adopting other measures; they must adhere to the divine directive unto the end.”
Trusting God over the long haul, faithfully moving forward according to His Word every day, who has the patience for that? Those who see strong holds pulled down in their life. That’s who. Let’s be faithful all the way through to the end.
