Jerri Kelley

Yesterday I confessed I was (still am to a degree) failing. I am angry and so tired of this particular ongoing issue and the people behind it that I am ready to start going by the name Joshua and referring to them as Jericho.

That sounds really fierce and all warrior-like because Joshua led the Israelites around Jericho and the walls collapsed, the Israelites stormed in, destroyed everything, and walked away with a widely acclaimed victory under their belts.

Except, that isn’t really the whole story. In fact, that isn’t even the key part of the story. The key part of the story happens before the first priest took the first step on the first day of the long march. The key to the story happened up on a hill looking down at Jericho with a small conversation that changed everything.

See, Joshua was more than Moses’ understudy who got the big promotion. He was an Israelite. He had been in Egypt. He was a young man when the Lord delivered the Israelite nation from Pharaoh and slavery. He watched Egypt get decimated by plagues. He put the blood on the doors so the destroyer would pass over them, and he heard the screams and wailing of Egyptian families who lost their first born. He walked through a sea on dry ground and saw dead bodies on the shore the next day.

Then Moses called him, Caleb, and ten other guys to go spy out the land and come back with information. Now, the ten other guys didn’t understand the assignment. They though they were going in to see “IF” the land could be taken. Joshua and Caleb knew they were going in to see “HOW” the land would be taken. Joshua and Caleb were thinking strategy. The other ten were thinking slavery.

Joshua and Caleb were voted down, and for the next 40 years, the Isrealites wandered around a wilderness. During that time, they fought some hateful nations and sometimes lost big, ate the same food every day for every meal, died by plagues unleashed due to sin, were bitten by snakes that killed them, watched the earth swallow insolent men and their families, and whined…a lot. I can only imagine how sick and tired of the nonsense Joshua and Caleb felt by the time they reached the Jordan and the priests stepped into the flooded river.

But finally Joshua leads Israel through the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

It took 40 years, but they are finally in the land they have been looking forward to, the land of milk and honey, and peace and freedom, the land with grapes so big two men had to carry a cluster between them on a pole. They can finally rest.

Except they can’t.

Because God never said, “So you will just walk in and it will be yours.” No, He said, “I’m giving you the land, but you have to want it. You have to be willing to take it.”

Joshua who has gone through all this stuff for 40 years to get to the Promised Land, and now he has to fight to own the Promise. And it starts with Jericho.

Now Jericho is no small thing. This is THE city to beat. Everyone knows about Jericho. Walls 12 feet wide, so wide there were rooms built into the wall. Formidable warriors known for their skill and domination of foes. To be honest, there is no way the Israelites are going to win this battle, and Joshua, being the savvy leader he is, knows it.

So picture this. Here is Joshua standing on this hill looking at Jericho. He may be thinking of strategy. He may be thinking this is crazy. He may be thinking he just wants something to be easy because…really wasn’t 40 years of nonsense enough? We don’t know.

We know he looks up and sees this man there. Joshua looks at him and asks a simple question. “Are you for us or for them?” Seems reasonable. I mean, the man isn’t one of the tribe of Israel, and he could be a spy or a messenger from Jericho, maybe an ambassador for another king offering aid. No idea.

“Are you for us or for them?”

Then the man says, “Neither. I’m for God, and I’ve come to take over.”

In other words, “Joshua, I know you think this is about you and them, but it isn’t. It’s about Me.”

And in that moment, everything changed.

Because in that moment it was not about who got the land. It was about God getting the glory.

There are moments I want to be Joshua. He was fierce and bold and kicked butts and took names.

Strangely enough, his was successful because he knew it was never actually about winning or even about him.

And he reminds me my battle…my Promised Land…isn’t really about me either.

To God be all the glory.

Humbly,

Jerri