"Nothing will be impossible to you"

Ch. 9 #1

The Israelites went about conquering Jericho in a very interesting way. God used this event to show that the conquest of the Promised Land would be a gift from him, and not gained by the merits of Israel or its military prowess. All the people of Israel had to do was to follow God’s orders and he led them to victory, even though it seemed the orders were not very oriented toward military strategy. What important lesson is God giving the people of Israel? What gift does God want to give everyone on earth in the same way he gave Israel the Promised Land? How might this affect the way we look at our daily lives and our obedience to God’s Word?

Through this story of the Israelites, conquering what seems like an unbeatable challenge, we can see that God wants the people of Israel to have complete trust in Him. Through this great act of faith God is showing them all they need is to trust Him and He will keep His promise. The way that God directs the Israelites to conquer the huge city seems crazy. However the people of Israel followed God and trusted Him completely so He did not let them down. By simply walking around the city of Jericho with the Arc of the Covenant and through the power of God Jericho was destroyed. After all this time spent wandering in the desert and by just trusting in God the Promise Land was theirs. The Israelites can see that God kept His promise to Moses about giving the Chosen people the Promise Land.

God wants to give everyone on earth the way to get to Heaven the same way he gave Israel the Promised Land. God wants us to trust Him the same way that the Israelites trusted Him when going into Jericho to conquer it. He has promised His people the great reward of entering into Heaven and all we need to do is follow his instructions and we will enter into it. Just as He had special instructions for the Israelites, He has special instructions and guidelines of just how we can make it into this new Promise Land.

This story shows us just how important it is that we are obedient in our daily lives to God’s word. Just as the Israelites were wandering and waiting in the desert, we go through problems and struggles in our own lives. We despair or feel like relief or a solution will never come, just as though we are the ones in the desert. By trusting in God’s will and his plan for us to go through these temporary struggles will help us to grow and become the person he wants us to be. A person he can use for His plan, whatever it may be. He knows us through and through. We can see that what God has planned for us is the best possible solution. It is crucial that we trust Him completely with our lives so that we can indeed live for his glory and in the end make it into Heaven. In Matthew 17 verse 20, Jesus says, “if you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” This shows us that with God’s grace and in doing his will we can accomplish anything through Him. Just thinking about this amazing gift of faith, realizing and knowing that God can and will take care of us is comforting and gives us hope. Listening to God’s word, living it and obediently following His direction can and will get us into Heaven.