“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in’” (Joshua 6:2-5).
Was it practical for Abraham to believe that he would have a son with his wife Sarah who was well past childbearing age? Was it practical for Moses to abdicate his princely position and lead the Israelites out of Egypt? Was it practical for Joshua to march around Jericho? “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in’” (Joshua 6:2-5). I can’t imagine marching around a city believing the walls would collapse. I can’t imagine all the ridicule and doubt Joshua must have confronted from the citizens of Jericho as well as from his own people. I can’t imagine all the strife Joshua must have had to handle from within himself.
Christ gave Christians what has become known as the Great Commission: “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20). Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with two Mormon missionaries. The two young women couldn’t have been any more than in their early twenties. Although the missionaries did not win a convert that evening, what a wonderful time the three of us had talking about our love of our Savior Jesus Christ. We also talked a little about our beliefs about church and canon, but Jesus remained front and center. And how brave of these ladies to go from door to door not knowing what to expect; there’s a lesson to be learned from their example.
Fear and doubt are just as powerful deterrents to faith today as they were in Joshua’s day. Resistance to God provides an entrance to the enemy; a dark and hopeless existence; that realization set me on a whole new path. The truth is right in front of all of our faces, but in order to see, one must have the courage to set aside learned ideologies, preconceived notions, and knee jerk reactions. It’s a life changing experience that leaves the world looking very different from what it did before or ever will again. I try to do the right thing, only to find it’s the wrong thing, and after a while, I find myself doing nothing, which turns out to be the worst thing. So, what shall I do when I don’t know what to do? The only thing I can do. I keep loving; I keep praying; I keep believing; I never give up. In Christ, the victory has already been won, and through Christ, I can do all things (Philippians 4:13); all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). Our God is a God impractical; he works through us to do the impractical, even the impossible. And it can be frightening, even terrifying; God gets that.
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Amazing Tangled Grace 