As His people marched around the walls of Jericho, God prepared them in several ways. First, He gave them a realization of the impossibility of their situation. The first time the Israelites circled the city, the walls must have looked huge. And they must have looked bigger and more foreboding with each successive trip. Thus, in their repeated journeys around Jericho, the Lord was showing His people that victory would not come through their might nor through their power, but only by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

So too, there might be a huge wall between you and a family member, neighbor, or fellow believer. God will have you go around it again and again until you finally say, “I can’t manipulate the situation. I can’t solve the problem. I can’t do a thing about this, Lord. Only You can solve this.” And when at last you come to this realization, I promise you that in due season, He will do something earth-shattering. Oh, it might take six months or even six years - but there will come a time when you’ll say, “It was the Lord Who brought that wall down. It wasn’t my cleverness or my ingenuity because as I went in circles day after week after month, it just got thicker and higher.”

Second, as His people circled the walls of Jericho, God taught them the importance of patience. Hebrews 6:12 says that it is through faith and patience that His promises are obtained. Do you have faith? Great. God wants you to have patience too. You see, His agenda is bigger than just knocking down walls. His purpose is to develop patience in us in order that we might be perfect, lacking nothing (James 1:4).

Third, as His people circled the walls of Jericho, God taught them discipline. His job was to work, theirs to be absolutely silent. If I can’t control my tongue, I won’t conquer the enemy. My tongue will get me in big trouble. So will yours (James 3:5-6). Therefore, it is the wise man or woman who silently - without complaint or opinion - gives God time and room to work.

God’s strategy for conquering Jericho served not only to prepare the children of Israel but to provide a witness to the people of Jericho. I believe that the people walking in quietness and tranquility, the Ark of the Covenant, the trumpets playing were all to be a witness to the inhabitants of Jericho. According to Rahab, their hearts were already melted. Thus, I believe God was giving them one last opportunity to come to Him. While His people were in Egypt, God gave the inhabitants of Canaan four hundred years to repent. Then He gave them forty more years while His people wandered in the wilderness. Here, He gives them six more days as they watched His children walk in devotion and order.

What will impress people around you? Seeing you walk patiently and quietly, neither panicking nor complaining, but simply walking under the authority of your Captain. Seeing the way your homes, marriages, and lives are ordered in this march toward Heaven is a witness to the people of our own Jerichos.