what a strange way

What a strange way to conquer a fortified city!
Jericho’s walls were so high that the city was
“securely shut up”, Joshua 6:1
The Lord promised to Joshua that he will give Jericho to
his hands. However, it didn’t happen by his own military
expertise. It happened through obedience to the Lord in the
smallest details of this operation.
The Lord asked him first to march around the city for six days;
carry the ark; have the priest bear seven trumpets of ram’s
horns before the ark; the seventh day march around the city
seven times; blow the trumpet ; shout and the wall will come
down.
He could as well have asked them to do some other irrelevant
gymnastics in their camp.
Why didn’t the Lord just flatten the walls right away?
Isn’t that often our question?
After marching around the problem for the third time we
usually start wondering, if this makes sense at all.
Why didn’t God just take Adam and Eve to heaven right after their
fall? Why did he leave his disciples, after his most amazing
victory, down on the earth to do this time consuming work
of evangelism?
Why was the process of Jesus’ crucifixion so long?
These are elements that have eternal value.
Somehow these times of marching and waiting and believing
will be an important part of our eternal fellowship in heaven.
We will not be talking about people’s sinfulness and failures
in heaven, but we will enjoy hearing all the Jericho stories
again and again.