Loud Voices

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

LOUD VOICES

Josh 6:12-21

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury." 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

NIV

Six days they were to march around the city once and then on the seventh day everything would happen just as the Lord had commanded. Interestingly, the Lord had them work for six days, and then on the seventh, they received the blessing of God. Even though they marched seven times on the seventh day, at the sound of the trumpets, the city walls came down just by their voices, their spoken words, as a loud shout, although we are not sure what that sound was like, it could have been like a war cry. They were also commanded not to take any of the devoted or the Hebrew word, which could mean accursed things, foreign gods within the walls of Jericho. This was a brutal assault on the city killing every living thing, all people, men, women, children, and all livestock. We cannot even imagine the horrific scene this would have been. What lesson can we learn from the narrative of the walls tumbling down? There could be two ways this might be relevant in our lives. First, there was a time when we built a great wall around our hearts and minds. We kept everything inside, and what was there was not devoted to God but to our passions. Yet, by the word of God, and He did not have to shout, although his voice was loud and clear, the walls around our hearts came tumbling down. Jesus entered straight into our hearts and killed everything that was devoted to self, forgiving all our sins, and putting them to death, but unlike the citizens of Jericho, Jesus gave us life. Secondly, we could see this as the walled city of Satan, and the evil of this world. We have the authority to speak to that evil in the name of Jesus and see it crash down. We have the authority to tell Satan, "Get behind me!” and he has no other choice than to obey our words. We also think there might be a third way this shout could be used and that is all the things devoted to this world. There are many loud shouts, or voices in this world that could cause our walls to come tumbling down, but that will never be the case as long as we are safe in the fortress of our God. Their voices may seem loud, but they are mute to us, we cannot hear them anymore, or at least we should not, for if we were to pay attention to the loud shouts of this world, it may not cause the walls to come down, but it might cause us to stumble, to get tripped up, lose our footing, and get off the path of God. Let us only hear the words of our Lord, and we will be safe and sound within the city of God. No matter how loud the world shouts, or how many times it tries to march around us, or blow any trumpets,  we will pay them no attention for we are only going to hear the trumpet of God when Jesus calls us home.