And The Walls Came Crumbling Down

I recently reached the six year mark at my current job. It’s significant because this is the place God provided for me when he pulled me away from a lucrative position with the state in order to focus on my writing. Now I work at a job where I make less money, have a degree I don’t use, and from a worldly perspective have made little notable progress in my writing endeavor. I confess it’s hard to see God at work sometimes when I look at those facts.

How appropriate then that God has led me this week to the book of Joshua and the story about the fall of Jericho. In it, God commanded Joshua to march once around the city with armed men for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times, then blow the trumpets and give a loud shout. If they followed these instructions, God promised the walls of Jericho would collapse. But what if Joshua hadn’t continued to the seventh day? What if he’d given up after the sixth day? Or the sixth circle around the city? If he hadn’t followed God to the very end, he would not have seen the victory.

So as I was preparing this morning to leave for my annual writing conference, some things occurred to me. It’s no coincidence God led me to this passage this week. I hadn’t been studying Joshua—I’ve been focusing my studies lately on women of the bible—but this six thing has gotten my attention because I do feel as if I’ve been circling for the past six years, waiting and searching for a crack in the defense of the publishing world, a way to break through the wall that at times seems so large and impenetrable. But I know God’s plan for me. He wants me on the other side of that wall. So armed with scripture and prayer, I’ve been quietly marching towards that goal. Now I’m into my seventh year. Is it time to blow the trumpets and shout to the Lord? Is this the year I’ll finally see the walls crumble?

I hope so.

“When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when these people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged in, and they took the city.” Joshua 6:20

Blessings,
Ginger

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