You have walked and waited and prayed, and yet the walls before you stand tall and strong above you, tempting you to feel small and forgotten. But what has God said to you? “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32). 

“See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. . . . When you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat.” —Joshua 6:2–3, 5

“But the people of Israel broke faith . . .” (Joshua 7:1). Those are the first words of the first chapter after the fall of Jericho.

God had just knocked down the city walls to give them the victory. And before the dust settled, they had given up on him. They had lost faith. They had watched a fortress fall, an army quiver, and a kingdom crumble. God gave them the triumph, almost without a fight. They barely had to lift a finger; they simply raised their voices.

And then they rejected God’s voice. Having watched him conquer their fears, they did the one thing he told them not to do. God’s messenger said, “Keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction” (Joshua 6:18). Do not horde or indulge in the idols of Jericho, but destroy them so that they do not steal your heart away from God.

“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things.”

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