Do It Again

“Walking around these walls, I thought by now they’d fall...”

The opening line to a song can hold so much meaning.  How many times do we face a struggle or a test, or even when God asks us to wait for something?  How many times, in those situations, do we walk around the proverbial wall, thinking it ought to be down by now.  

The people of Israel experience this exact situation.  In Joshua 6, we see the inspiration for the first line of this song.  Long story short, they were commanded by God to march around the city of Jericho for six days, once per day.  Then, on the seventh day, they were commanded to walk around seven times, on the seventh trip around the were to give a loud shout and God said the walls would fall down.  

Now, the Bible doesn’t give us any dialogue, at all, as to what they thought or said walking around the walls.  The only record we have of any talking at this point is Joshua telling everyone not to shout or make any noise until he told them to.  Even though we don’t have any recorded conversations, I can imagine there were at the very least some interesting thoughts going around Jericho.  

We do the same stuff.  We are thrust into whatever situation and we begin to wonder.  “Why hasn’t this been resolved?”  

For me, currently, my wall is the fostering of Bubba.  He’s been in our house since last April and the case is ongoing.  The last few weeks, I’ve been looking around thinking, “this should all be over, he should just be ours and we can go on.”  However, God just says, essentially, “keep walking.”  

“But you have never failed me yet.”

The next line of the song is a reminder.  The Lord has never once failed me.  If we look back to the story of the Israelites, He never failed them either.  He led them through the wilderness, which they found themselves in because of their failure to obey the Lord.  God has never failed any of us.  There are times where we may believe He did, however we are so wrong.  God hasn’t and won’t ever fail! 

“Your promise still stands, great is your faithfulness.  I’m still in your hands, this is my confidence, you never failed me yet.” 

God is faithful.  His promises are eternal.  He may tell us to keep walking, and He will provide.  The thing is, we may not always see what He is preparing.  We have to step out in faithfulness and allow Him to dictate what’s happening.  That’s the hard part.  I’m sure the Israelites thought they had a better idea to conquer Jericho, however God’s plan was the correct way.  We, at times, tend to take matters into our own hands and we make a mess of ourselves, then he picks us up and tells us to keep walking.  

“I’ve seen you move, you move the mountains, and I believe I’ll see you do it again. You made a way, when there was no way, and I believe I’ll see you do it again.”

It’s not like God hasn’t proven himself time and time again.  We’ve witnessed it.  There come times when the path can’t be seen, and He provides the way.  We just have to listen and be faithful.

That’s how the song has spoken to me over the last few days.  Our case with Bubba isn’t going exactly how I’d want it to, but the thing is, I’m not in charge.  

God sees the bigger picture.  I’ve got to continue walking.  The walls will fall.