Keep Walking

Joshua 6: 14-15 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 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.

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison responded, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with a 1,000 steps."

As I ponder that statement I wonder if Thomas Edison would have kept walking if he knew he had 900 steps (so to speak) left to go? Much less keep walking when he didn't know how many steps he had left at all.

Joshua was the successor of Moses, chosen to lead Israel to the Promised Land. The journey had already been difficult, long, and brutal. After a forty year march through the same wilderness, and the passing of an entire generation of people; Israel was confronted with their first obstacle - Jericho. For many of us, this is a familiar story. The people of Israel were instructed to march around the city one time for six days. And seven times on the seventh day. They were instructed to shout on the seventh lap around the city on that seventh day, and the city walls would come down by supernatural intervention. But let us take note that the only person who knew the plan was Joshua. The rest of Israel had no clue how many times they would repeat this seemingly strange process. But they kept walking anyway.

Let's back up a tad chronologically to Moses. He spent some forty years as a shepherd in the desert before God told him to rescue his people from Egypt. He confronted Pharaoh multiple times and met nothing but resistance. Then after successfully escaping Egypt, he led Israel through another forty year journey through the wilderness. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too thrilled to serve the forty year sentence of a bunch of complaining people. Especially when they could have walked eleven or so days straight to their destination. But Moses kept walking anyway.

What about Noah who spent 100 years building a boat for rain no one had ever seen. But he kept walking anyway. The Apostle Paul endured countless hardships that nearly cost him his life on many occasions, but he kept walking anyway.

Our very Lord and Savior Jesus, endured horrific torture before having to carry his cross to the place where he would be nailed to it. And He kept walking! Right into resurrection at that!

We will all have to face and endure something seemingly beyond our capacity, rationality, strength, or understanding. It is not a matter of "if", just a matter of "when". We all have a choice. We can choose to stay chained to the illusion that we are stuck. Or we can keep walking. My friend's, don't let pain, the past, uncertainty, confusion, fear, or any other thing keep you from walking forward. Never give up! Abraham was told to go to an unknown land that The Lord would show him. But he was not told where to go. So he started walking. And he ended up exactly where God had intended. You will never miss your destiny when you walk with Him. When you trust Him. There is no place on earth you can go that He cannot fulfill His purpose and plan for your life! There is no place you can wander that is beyond his reach. No place you could get lost that His love can't find you. There is no hole to deep, where He can't lift you out.

Just. Keep. Walking.