And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

     Have you ever built a wall?  Some people spend years building walls.  Brick by brick the wall gets higher and thicker.  Some are quicker to bring the wall up.  It seems with these people that the wall was already lying there, just waiting for the invitation to be raised. 
     I became part a Bible study recently.  In praying before the first meeting, I asked God to reveal Himself during our time together.  I immediately received a very vivid picture of the Wall of Jericho.  God wants to tear down some walls. 
     These walls that we build around our hearts are placed there for protection.  They serve a purpose.  Weapons are launched at us in the form of abuse, insults, rumors, failures, disappointments, hurts, sin, the list goes on and on.  The wall is meant to deflect these weapons.  Unfortunately, the wall often becomes so thick that it also deflects things like love, compliments, victories, friendship, mercy, forgiveness, and grace as well.
     I looked up the story--true story of the Bible--of the Wall of Jericho.  The NIV version is below:
Joshua 6
1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.
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 [a] to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute [b] 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.

     In verse 1 we see where no one is allowed in and no one is allowed out.  It is obvious that there is a problem with not letting anything in.  When you don't allow the bad in, much of the good ricochets off of the wall as well.  What I never considered was the fact that nothing gets out either.  Satan comes in behind this wall and plants his flag.  There he grows gardens of bitterness and anger, hate and unforgiving.  Some of the other things cultivated are shame, secrecy, guilt and regret.  No, these are not gardens of loveliness.  They aren't pleasing to the eyes and appealing to the nose.  This is a garden filled with thick thorny weeds.  These gardens serve the purpose of entrapping and hurting.
     I love the following verses.  God gives specific instructions.  He tells the Israelites to simply walk.  In verse 9 we even see Joshua telling the army, "Don't raise your voice, don't give a war cry, don't say a word."  Silence.  God makes things happen in silence.  We always think that our prayers and worship must be filled with words and noises.  In the silence we hear God.  In our silence He helps us grow stronger.  Then, when God knows we are ready, He tells us to SHOUT a shout of victory!  The wall immediately tumbles.  When God breaks down a wall, He does it quickly!  (vs 20)
     The Hebrew definition of the word devoted used in verse 17 and 21 is as follows:  The irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
     This is what I experienced when I went through the healing process that Project 5:17 offers.  God took down a wall very quickly in my heart.  I gave over the guilt, shame and secrecy that came with the choice to abort.  I gave over the anger, bitterness and unforgiving that helped lead me to make that choice.  God destroyed it and made it devoted to Him.  He is using it for His glory. 
     The commentary that I read on this story opened my eyes to even more truth about God: 
Joshua is not an epic account of Israel’s heroic generation or the story of Israel’s conquest of Canaan with the aid of her national deity. It is rather the story of how God, to whom the whole world belongs, at one stage in the history of redemption reconquered a portion of the earth from the powers of this world that had claimed it for themselves.
     Has the enemy moved in behind the walls in your heart and claimed that area as his own?  Well, it is very exciting to know that we don't have to muster up the power to take down the wall and trample what is in it.  Just as Israel did not use their power in the wall of Jericho, we don't have to use ours either.  God wants to lead us to the wall, prepare us for His victory, and quickly break it down.  What is behind that wall....no matter how ugly it is.....was ALWAYS God's.  He wants to claim it back!  And when God plants a garden, He can turn anything into a thing of beauty.  Now doesn't that make you want to shout?  :-)