More Walk than Shout

 

“Bringing down the walls of Jericho involved more WALKING than shouting. A Sunday shout is great, but it can’t replace a DAILY WALK.”

I was scrolling through my phone last night, looking over quotes and screenshots of book pages that I had taken and saved for future reference, and I came across the above quote.

What a hard hitting and truthful quote!

We read the amazing story of the fall of Jericho in Joshua chapter 6. If you are unfamiliar with it, here’s a quick rundown.

God told Joshua that he had given the city of Jericho into his hands but there were conditions to be met and obeyed. Joshua was to gather his men of war and the seven priests with seven trumpets of rams’ horns and march around the city, once each day, for seven days straight. Each day the march was to be done in silence. No noise other than the blowing of the trumpets was to be heard. No voices, no whispers, no talking whatsoever.

What a strange sight it must have been for the people of Jericho to see an army of mighty warriors led by seven priests blowing trumpets and bearing the ark of the covenant, slowly and steadily marching around the walled city to the sound of seven rams’ horns being blown. What a bizarre fighting strategy. They must have been scratching their heads and becoming increasingly perturbed and frightened as the fear of the unknown fell upon them.

And then that last fateful day came when the Israelite army marched around again, as they had been doing each day, but this time they didn’t stop with one trip around. No. They marched around and around and around. Four, five, six and then on the seventh time Joshua gave the command for all the men to shout. And shout they did.

Joshua 6:20-21 KJV - So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

And we know the end of the story, the walls of Jericho fell down flat, and the mighty men of war took the city and completely destroyed it, save Rahab and her household.

Don’t you know that this shout would have been the most blood curdling, spine tingling, frightening thing to hear. The Greek word for shout is not a cheery little ‘hello’ shout. No, it has the idea of a war cry, a battle cry, an alarm or signal. This was a very loud, terrifying shout of victory. The sound that can only come from a group of mighty soldiers who have been walking in confidence, knowing that the victory was theirs and that God was on their side. They had nothing to fear, and they shouted with all their might and then rushed upon the city and did what God had commanded them to do.

So, let’s come back to our quote once more.

“Bringing down the walls of Jericho involved more WALKING than shouting. A Sunday shout is great, but it can’t replace a DAILY WALK.”

You remember that the shouting was only done on day seven, and not until they had marched around the city seven times. There was a whole lot more walking than shouting done in this particular battle.

We have recently held some evangelistic meetings here in our church in Katherine, and praise God we had many unsaved attend and hear the gospel proclaimed boldly and clearly.

We worshipped and sang with our whole hearts and the Sunday shout was great. We lifted up our voices in praise of our Almighty God and we enjoyed fellowship with other believers as we shared a meal together, listened to God’s Word being preached and were taught precious truths from the pages of Scripture.

But although that Sunday shout was a great blessing and an encouragement, if we as a church come away from it, neglecting our own personal walk with the Lord, then the shout was for nothing.

It’s not enough to fill up on a Sunday and go about our week disregarding our Bibles and study of the Word. The meal you are fed on a Sunday was never meant to sustain you for the rest of the week. You MUST be in the Word on a daily basis in order to gain nourishment and grow.

Over and over in the Word of God we are exhorted to be reading the Bible and applying it to our lives.

The Psalmist in Psalm 119 had a love for the Scripture and it is evident in the way he speaks.

Psalm 119:11, 15-16, 47 KJV - Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. ... I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. ... And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.

I will hide it. I will meditate in it. I will delight in it. I love it. I desire it. And so on. He had a love for God’s Word and so should we.

There should be something inside us that is not content with only a Sunday shout. We need to desire to be walking daily in the Word. Around and around and around. Page after page. Chapter after chapter. Word after word.

The mighty men of war had to walk around for seven days before they saw their victory. They had to be faithful putting one foot in front of the other, following their commander, obeying him and trusting him. There would have been no victory without the walk.

And so it is in our Christian life. We will not see victory and growth in our life if we don’t have a daily walk with the Lord. If we are not faithfully meditating on the Words of Scripture, listening to God’s voice as he speaks to us, communing with him in prayer, walking in obedience and giving him the glory in all we do, then we will be unfruitful and stagnant, and God’s kingdom will not be advanced.

It is our job to get the gospel out to a dying world. It is our job to show Christian love to others. And it is our job to know our Bibles and more importantly, know our Saviour.

We can’t rely on the Pastor to feed us. We have to feed ourselves throughout the week.

When you do this consistently, you will find that your Sunday shout is all the more powerful and meaningful. That time of worship you have with other Christians on a Sunday will lift your spirits as you share what God is doing in your life and you will be drawn closer to God.

If you’ve been in the Word throughout the week then it will overflow on Sunday. You will look forward to bearing witness to God’s goodness.

We need to remember the command God gave Joshua after the death of Moses.

Joshua 1:8 KJV - This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

God encouraged Joshua to meditate on the Word day and night. Not just on Sunday. Every day.

Some Christians want to be close to God and want all the blessings of God but don’t want to spend time reading about him or talking to him.

Your spiritual growth is directly proportionate to the amount of time and effort you put into study of the Bible. Not growing spiritually can be traced to a failure to be in the Word. You don’t grow if you refuse to feed yourself.

We need to read our Bibles with an eager desire to learn. We need to read with passion and interest. We need to be on our way to heaven with a curiosity about what we’ve read and a fire that won’t be quenched. A fervent, excited, engaged mind, always wanting to read more, know more, learn more. We need to have such a love for the Word of God that we can’t go even one day without opening its pages to reveal the truths that lay in front of us.

How much time do you spend in prayer, in study, in reading His Word? How much time do you spend each day, quietly meditating on His Word, listening for His voice, pouring out your heart to Him?

For any relationship to flourish, you must spend time on it. If you want a closer relationship with God, you must spend time talking to Him in prayer, learning about His character through the Word of God, listening, waiting, obeying, loving and learning from him.

If you want your Sunday SHOUT to be great, you need your Monday through Saturday WALK to be faithful.

 

 

Psalm 119:140 KJV - Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.