Some of us have walls – walls we’ve built and walls that have been passed down to us. Whatever the walls are and however they got there, at some point, God leads us to a place where these walls must fall down. I was thinking about the story of Jericho’s Destruction (Josh. 6) one day, and I thought about the fact that according to the Bible, no one was harmed by the wall when it fell down. This made me think about when we approach a wall in our own lives. Whatever that stronghold may be – a past relationship, a perspective, a bad habit, you know what walls you’ve got to face. God shows us how to bring these walls down, but because He goes before us, we don’t get hurt when it comes down. If we choose to stay too close to the things that keep us from moving forward, two things happen. We don’t leave room for God to intervene, and because of that, He won’t let that wall fall down until we’re out of the danger zone. We’ve got to trust God enough to step back and proceed with His instruction.
The distance God creates between us and the walls we’ve built prepares us for the fall.
If we try to make amends in a broken relationship and get rejected, we don’t get hurt and let anger and insecurity stir, we take the peace God graciously offers. When you didn’t meet your desired weight goal “in time”, you don’t talk yourself down, you press forward, you persevere. When that stronghold seems to keep holding on, no matter how many times you’ve prayed, you don’t give up, because the more you pray, the more distance you create and once you’re in place, not only does that wall fall down, you’re in the perfect position to take over the land God has given you. The land where your peace, joy, strength, and faith reside. The land where your growing relationship with Christ resides. With each wall that falls down, you’re able to advance to what was behind it and begin to understand why you had to overcome that wall in the first place.
Something that we oftentimes overlook due to our level of comfort with these walls we’ve built is that we chose to be in close proximity to the things we identify with.
God calls us to live a life of freedom in Christ, not a life that keeps us bound or confined to who we once were or no longer want to be.
Don’t mistake the walls surrounding you for insulation, if anything, they keep you in isolation from the future and hope God has for you. We can’t take comfort in what’s not meant to stand. That’s why we run into it until we take a step back and see that what God wants to give is on the other side of these walls that must come down. The walls we’ve built from a place of fear, disappointment, guilt, and shame allow the enemy to torment us, and God’s plan for our prosperity to remain untouched. You don’t want that, and neither does your Heavenly Father. Let Him show you what He’s given into your hand (Josh. 6:2), listen for His word (6:3-5), then step back and march until these walls fall down (6:7). God won’t let these walls fall on you.
