By: Steve Wilmot
In the first Karate Kid movie, Daniel wants to learn how to protect himself from bullies by learning karate. He asked Mr. Miyagi, a martial arts expert, to train him.
Mr. Miyagi says, “We make sacred pact. I promise teach karate to you, you promise to learn. I say, you do, no questions.”
The first week of training was not what Daniel expected. He waxed Mr. Miyagi’s cars for hours. “Wax on. Wax off.” Later in the week, it’s more of the same as Mr. Miyagi sent Daniel to paint his fence. “Up, down. Up, down.”
Before long, Daniel’s ticked he’s not learning any karate and Mr. Miyagi is getting free labor. But there was a method to Mr. Miyagi’s madness — Daniel’s work taught him hand movements invaluable to succeed in karate. Eventually he wins a city-wide karate championship.
Sometimes God asks his people to do things that don’t make sense to us. You’re as confused and ticked as Daniel. But God knows what he’s doing. Every time.
God taught Joshua the same lesson. The Commander of the Lord’s army gave him the battle strategy to overthrow Jericho. What he heard didn’t make sense. The plan seemed foolish.
The Israelites would never go for it. The people of Jericho would laugh at them. It was crazy and unworkable.
See what you think: “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).
The walls of Jericho stood 13 feet tall and were wide enough chariots raced on top. Many residents built their homes in them. What good would it do to walk around such massive walls and shout?
Joshua had been the military strategist during the 40 years in the wilderness. He had devised battle plans to defeat a variety of enemies over those four decades.
The accepted strategy would include ladders, catapults, and spears. They would wait out the enemy until their food and water supply dwindled, forcing them either to starve to death, fight, or surrender. It’s probably the tactic Joshua had in mind for Jericho. Until the Commander of the Lord’s army spoke, that is.
Consider how much was at stake. The morale of the troops. Their confidence in Joshua’s leadership. Word would spread to all the other enemies on the “Cities to Destroy” list.
Remember, the cities were terrified of Joshua because of the mighty acts of power God performed on their behalf. A defeat at Jericho would blow up the aura of invincibility and embolden them.
The best God can come up with is march around the city for a week, do it seven times on the seventh day and give a holler? Not exactly something taught at West Point.
Joshua’s response is worthy of imitation. Four words. “Joshua did it” (Joshua 5.15). Without hesitation, he blindly obeyed because it was God who gave the order.
He doesn’t ask for alternate tactics. No back-up plans. There’s no “let’s do it my way first and if that doesn’t work, we’ll try yours.”
No. Joshua saw God’s plans work out exactly the way he said they would too many times to question him now. He trusted God and did what he was told.
Once again, God’s orders worked as promised. “When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city” (Joshua 6.20).
Isn’t it amazing how every time someone does precisely what God tells him to do the results God promised to happen? Always! Even when his directions seem so illogical to us.
God told Moses to stretch his rod over the Red Sea, and he vowed to part it so Israel could pass through. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove back the sea” (Exodus 14.21).
Elijah told the woman who only had enough flour left for one more meal for her and her son, to make a cake of bread for him with it first.
He gave her his word God would miraculously keep her jar of flour and jug of oil full through the rest of the famine if she did. “She went away and did as Elijah told her” (1 Kings 17.7-16).
God whittled Gideon’s army to 300 men, supplied only with trumpets, empty jars, and torches. Then God told him to march into battle outnumbered and out armed. Gideon obeyed and defeated the enemy. (Judges 7). Seems like we would have gotten the message by now.
This is how God operates. Often his instructions make no sense. You can’t see a logical way they could even remotely work. You know people will think you’re crazy if you do what he’s asked.
Joshua didn’t care about any of that. He did what God told him to do when the natural mind thought it utterly absurd.
Wouldn’t you love if after you die people would say: “_______ did it.”
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.