Joshua 6 – Brandon Hatmaker “Fear”
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
“Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.” –Joshua 6:1
They were scared. It’s amazing how our minds can render us useless and/or ineffective when we’re scared. They heard about what God had done, and saw the evidence camped out beyond their walls, and they feared God. They didn’t attack during the season the Israelites were “healing”, instead, they shut up the city. And stayed put.
Fear paralyzes us when we’re on the wrong side of it. It keeps us from moving forward, from fighting, from seeking, from working hard, etc… the right kind of fear (of God) will motivate us to do what His will desires. Here the purpose of the “Fear of God” was to render Jericho “closed up” and it motivated the Israelites to action.
When it is our “will” (desire and passion) to chase after God’s “will”, we have nothing to fear. Or as FDR put it, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
And as Paul put it, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline”
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As fearful as the people were inside the wall, the people outside the wall were confident. I love how they didn't question. Joshua didn't ask God, "Are you sure walking around and blowing trumpets is the way to bring the wall down?" The people didn't laugh at Joshua when he told them what they were going to do. They just flat did it. No questions, no if, and's or buts. They just did it. What would our lives be like if we just simply did what God told us to do?
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