RECIPES FOR SUCCESS WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL 

ISSUE 06/01/22

TOPIC: When God appears to be in waiting mode whilst we are running out of Patience😓😓😨😰😰😣!!

SCRIPTURE VERSE:

Joshua 6 Tree of Life Version 

 6 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of Bnei-Yisrael—no one going out and no one coming in. 2 Then Adonai said to Joshua, “Look, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty warriors. 3 Now you are to march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. So you are to do for six days. 4 Seven kohanim will carry seven shofarot of rams’ horns before the ark. Then on the seventh day you are to circle the city seven times while the kohanim blow the shofarot. 5 It will be when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the shofar, have all the people shout a loud shout—then the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up, everyone straight ahead.” 6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the kohanim and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant. Let seven kohanim carry seven shofarot of rams’ horns before the ark of Adonai.” 7 Then he said to the people, “Move forward, march around the city, and let the armed force march ahead of the ark of Adonai.” 8 And it was so. After Joshua had spoken to the people, seven kohanim carrying the seven shofarot of rams’ horns before Adonai went forward and blew the shofarot, and the ark of the covenant of Adonai followed them. 9 Also the armed force went before the kohanim who blew the shofarot, and the rear guard came behind the ark, while the shofarot continued to blow. 10 But Joshua ordered the people saying: “You must not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you ‘shout!’ Then you will shout.” 11 So he had the ark of Adonai go around the city, circling it once. Then they came into the camp and spent the night there. 

 REFLECTION BASED ON SCRIPTURE:

🏹The waiting period was longer, the crowning action was short-sharp and sent shock waves to the very foundations of the walled structure and it crumbled! It is important to stress that each part is essential.The circling of the wall which appeared repetitive and ineffective.

 At the end of each day for six days and at the end of each of the six days Adona's strategy to a casual observer may have appeared  inexplicably ineffective. That is before the Israelites encircling the City of Jericho on the seventh day 

Imagine what might have been going on in their minds, prior to the walls crumbling. Had Adonai, their God found an obstacle that was insurmountable even for him?

-. -Perhaps the delay was occurring because whereas Adonai could influence bodies of water such as the Red Sea, the River Jordan, moving a walled city like Jericho was proving above His paygrade!!

-No doubt the period of waiting was a high-stakes exercise!!

-Tension was definitely mounting as the indwellers of the besieged Jericho City watched waiting with their 'heart in their mouth' so to speak at the end of the first six days.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A SEASON OF  WAITING IN OUR LIVES 

 1️⃣✅It reveals WHAT is within us? ‼The season of waiting is an opportunity to confront our inner temperaments as they surface.

Perhaps this may initially presented to us as impatience and irritability if we cannot stand the tension of waiting! But when we have to do the waiting season six days in a row, like the Israelites, how do we cope with the feelings that surface if they are uncomfortable or even unpleasant for us to deal with?

 Imagine what those Israelites might have been thinking during those six very l-o-n-g uneventful days!! Perhaps deep feelings of abandonment by Adonai and even fear or terror were brought to the surface within their thoughts and emotions!! God had instructed Joshua their leader that Israelites were to be silent during that period as in v10 below:

 10 But Joshua ordered the people saying: “You must not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you ‘shout!’ Then you will shout.”

Can you imagine if that had not been the case, the degree of murmuring and perhaps even outright rebellion that could have been expressed?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

The circling of the wall may have appeared repetitive and ineffective. At the end of each day for six days and at the end of each of the six days encircling the walls; doing so for seven times may have appeared inexplicably ineffective. as the walls were still firmly in place.

They might even have considered that for once, Adonai(their God) appeared to have come against an obstacle that could be insurmountable. That perhaps even though He was a God who could influence bodies of water such as the Red Sea and the river Jordan, moving a walled city was proving quite a challenge, after six days of no movement as yet!!

This season of waiting and finding the motivation to see the encircling of the wall through will certainly have been a high-stakes exercise!! Tension would definitely have been mounting on both sides of the wall for two different reasons: 

A)To the indwellers of a besieged City that watched waiting with their 'heart in their mouth', they would be wondering/hoping that the Israelites enemies don't get past their defenses.

B)But to Joshua and the Israelites, after wandering in the Wilderness for their adult lives till that day, they would no doubt have been hoping that Adonai, their Lord God would come through for them as He had done on other occasions.

 NOTE OF CAUTION: The generation before who were under the leadership of Moses failed to progress to the current level. They had also encountered the imposing territory of Jericho but not from closer proximity as the generation of their children under Joshua.  

But that generation of the fathers was not as disciplined a)with their speech, they murmured and rebelled against Adonai's word and Moses' leadership. In contrast, their children under Joshua's leadership fully complied by not letting out a sound. b)The generation under Moses' leadership was notable for escaping in a feeling/illusion of instant self-gratification when they were confronted with stress and challenges. It was their often used default escape/coping mechanism.

Today the same applies to us as individuals and a corporate local community of Christian believers! 

Therefore we must pay attention to the journey of the Hebrew migrants in the above passage of Joshua 6! 

When Adonai, God appears to be delaying in response to our request it is likely the same TEMPTATIONs WOULD COME KNOCKING AT OUR DOOR:  we may be pressured to a) 'murmur' or 'complain' and

 b)to yield to Self-gratification as our default escape as we become suddenly more aware of the sensual world.

 This can occur in the form of our own heightened bodily craving for instant gratification and pleasure. Interpreting such opportunistic craving as a necessary expression of sensual pleasure(perhaps of a sexual nature, or food addiction) must not become our way of dealing with the stress that sometimes is inevitable when we are trusting God.

 ♻️It is important to note that the most stressful and challenging times often occur just before victory. In the case of Joshua and the Israelites just before day 7, round 13 and BREAKTHROUGH resulting in the walls coming down they would have been most severely tested!

AND SO WE WILL ALSO BE TESTED BEFORE VICTORY!

 2️⃣✅It reveals WHO we really trust? Whether we are ready to believe Adonai to see us through unconditionally or whether our trust is based on having quicker results.

As illustrated within the journey of the Israelites in the above passage from Joshua 6:

 Remember their breakthrough was nearer with each passing day, however they needed to first undergo a process of maturity and character development! THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A SEASON OF  WAITING IN OUR LIVES IS THAT IT LEADS TO MATURITY AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN US!!

 But at last, after the seven-round city encircling and their obedience to the command of Adonai to shout, the people experienced their breakthrough😇.

A personal encouragement: Dear family and friend are you going through a season of waiting, when God appears to be in waiting mode whilst you run out of patience? Does the waiting period appear meaningless or without purpose? Take courage from the Joshua generation!Believing leads to receiving and confession to Possession of God's promises! BUT YOU NEED TO ENDEAVOUR TO STAY THE COURSE!PLEASE PERSERVERE!Don't give up! Your miracle is on the way!

♻️This principle dawned on me in 1985. I had felt the Lord's prompting one step at a time to carry out a series of instructions. 

♻️Whilst following these instructions I began identifying that in a sense I had crossed my 'River Jordan' and now symbolically like the Israelites I had to take the next step in healing ministry by accessing territory of divine promise which laid beyond a walled city of Jericho, symbolically!

This wall was represented by the obstacles I faced within my belief and trust in Adonai !!

♻️ My main obstacle had been the wall of unbelief and self-doubt that was plaguing my mind: I was very afraid my attempt to minister to the sick would prove as unsuccessful as had been the case on a previous occasion(I had shared about this extensively in my Podcasts if you recall about a lady I had ministered to. This lady was subsequently healed when I persevered, by following Divinely inspired instructions from Joshua Chapters 1-6.

 3️⃣✅It reveals to WHOM we are beholden and devoted to: In the case of the Israelites, the period of a Six day wait tested whether they were ultimately beholden to Adonai or whether they were interested and engaged with His process ONLY so long as they could get quick results. 

On an earlier occasion, 3 days after Joshua's announcement they crossed a Jordan river in flood.Now the wait was longer: 7 days and on the Seventh day it involved further encircling the wall 7 times. Talk about a tiring marathon! But they stayed engaged with the program until the end! Hallelujah👐👐.

They had indeed demonstrated their acceptance of their part within a Covenant relationship with Adonai. They were to be forever known as the Joshua generation who had collaborated with Adonai in a mature way, setting an example not only for posterity but for us, who have been adopted from a race of gentiles: outside the commonwealth of Israel. To Adonai forever be all honour and glory, Amen🙌🙌.

God bless you

John