Obedience Even When Things Make No Sense

[hldude33]

YouTube Channel Video Devo

“Obedience Even When Things Make No Sense”
Joshua 6:2-5 NIV
The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 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. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

This past Sunday, the sermon at church featured this story about the collapse of the wall of Jericho. This is one of my most favorite stories in Scripture. One of the reasons why is having watched Veggie Tales so many years ago and remembering the hilarious animation retelling the story. The other reason is how amazing this story is because everything they did made absolutely NO logical sense whatsoever!

All the verses leading up to verse 5 give the sense that something will happen in the end like charging the wall and using weapons to tear it down. It would make total sense to bring a crane with a wrecking ball in to smash through the wall, right?? Of course! That’s exactly what I would have done! But this wasn’t God’s plan at all. He had no plans for anything physical to knock down the wall. It was absolutely nothing but obedience and faith that God would do…..something.

Verse 5 just gets me. The wall of the city will collapse from all the shouting and marching around? God gave them very detailed instructions of marching around and doing various things. One loud blast and shouting and then……well…..the wall will collapse?? It just doesn’t make one bit of sense at all. Why would God tell them to do all these things instead of telling the to grab weapons and beat the wall down that way?

God wanted their obedience and faith in Him more than anything. I’m sure it had to be on their minds why in the world God was giving them weird instructions that had absolutely NOTHING physical to do with breaking down the wall. God told Joshua and he told the people. I can just hear Joshua’s thoughts, “God, I sure hope this works! I’m gonna look like a fool if it doesn’t.”

Can you imagine the feeling and look on everyone’s faces when the wall did collapse? “Whoa! Did that just REALLY happen?? All we did was march around and then shout! How in the world did that happen?”

Obedience and faith in God, even when things make absolutely no sense, is what God wants more than anything. We gotta trust in Him even when things have no logical reason behind it. That’s often how He works. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not ours. Trust Him!

 

[Karl Peters]

I like the OP, and it turns out that the meaning behind the "“Obedience Even When Things Make No Sense”, is very important, but what do thousands of year old Bible stories actually mean and look like today???

As a child, my parents took me to church and we kids went to Sunday school, and I even once felt something when an altar call was being made, so that I went up and got baptized. But it was just a feeling and what was there to be obedient to? Was I now to go to Jericho and start walking around it? Maybe I should try a part the red sea? Ha - it was a Santa Claus story, wasn't it?

If we don't actually get people to believe that Jesus Christ, that He is there to be heard from, then that is all the Bible stories are: just stories!!

What Bible stories from thousands of years ago need is testimonies from Today - we remember Today - that day in which we are supposed to hear from Him - indeed that day in which we are supposed to be encouraging others to hear from the Lord?

Heb 3:7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

Heb 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

I too like the Bible stories and the Bible teachings, just like they all gave us as kids - but if there is no explanation that Jesus Christ is actually there as our Lord and the living Word of God who is just standing there wanting to talk to us, then it is all worthless!! Because you can't be obedient until you start healing instructions from the Lord to be obedient to! And I can tell you some other things too - just being obedience when things don't make sense does not mean you don't check the spirits when they don't make sense, nor that you don't reason with Him when they don't make sense!! Those little bits of info are missing in the OP!!

1 Jn 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Is 1:2Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth;
For the LORD speaks, ....
Is 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD, ...

So let me give a real testimony (and we should all have thousands of these type of things)

I was driving back from my storage while working my business, and the Lord tells me to get gas. I didn't really need gas and told Him so. He told me to get gas anyway. Ok, I had almost half a tank but I could top it off. So I pulled in.

Then a man walks up to me and asks for change for the bus. But I didn't have any change at all. So I told the man that and he walked away. Of course, knowing the Lord had told me to get gas, when it made no sense to me, I then started up a conversation with the Lord, because He is always with us! I told the Lord I didn't have any change.

He responded, "Karl, you could have taken him to where he wanted to go in the bus" in that still calm voice of His.

The point is that He does make sense, but we just don't have His knowledge, point of view, and understanding of things.

So I filled up and looked for the man to offer to take Him where he wanted to go, but he was not around. So I asked the Lord, "Where is He?"

The Lord responded, "He is in the cross walk going over to the other gas station."

Yeah, that was exactly where he was. So I drove over there, as I was driving there I saw him meet with another young man and a young lady, outside the Mac Donalds that was attached to the station. He went inside Mac Donalds with the other young man right before I got there. So I pulled up to the young lady and told her that her friend had asked for money for the bus, which I didn't have, but I would be willing to drive em'. And as I told her I could help but notice that she was shivering. It was a little cool out but that was surprising.

She seemed to like the idea, and told me they had gone inside to get some food, and while I realized that this seem to be more important than I first thought. So I started looking for loose change around me car. And quickly I found most of a dollars' worth of change. The tow young men came out and they all wanted to go to the maul, which was not that close but not that far either. It was about 15 minute drive, and would have at least require one bus change.

On the way I found out the girl, who just graduated high school with her two friends, had just been kicked out of her house by her mom. She had just spent her first night on the streets, which was why she was shivering. Her friends were trying to get her to the maul to find other friends so she could have a place to stay.

Again, the point is that He does make sense, but we just don't have His knowledge, point of view, and understanding of things.

The things that I could hear from Him. So can anyone if they just care to believe and listen to Him. In that case He can instruct us to accomplish that plans that He has, which are plans for good, and to help, But if we are going to tell others to be obedient, and use those great stories in the Bible, but fail to tell them listen to Him who is always with us, then you missed the whole point!!

THEY ARE JUST STORIES WITH OUT HIM IN OUR LIVES!

I heard them when I was a child. I got baptized at a church as a child. But nobody at that church seem to actually hear Him. That part got sadly missed in my life. So when I got to high school I managed to get out of going to church, cause they were just story tellers! That only change because on morning when I was just over 40 He spoke to me as I was getting up, saying, "Read Your Bible". It turns out the Bible was about hearing Him and a rebellious people, who though called by Him did not listen to Him. They said, "Let Not God Speak to Us", and told stories! And there was something about being whitewashed tombs.

It is really more like "listen and obey". Test the spirits, which doesn't mean lean on your own understanding. Still, feel free to reason with the Lord, which does not mean you don't have to obey but rather that you have the right to get some understanding if it if possible. He does give you understanding as He can. And honestly - if you are honest and open with Him about everything, He is going to be honest and open with you too. It's a relationship, not a do what I say or else situation.

So again: THEY ARE JUST STORIES WITH OUT HIM IN OUR LIVES!

So I am never just trying to tell stories, I am trying to get people hooked up with Him - and they will learn that other things.

 

[Gottservant]

A simple thought "don't avoid obedience, because you want to avoid suffering" (selah)

 

[quietthinker]

Obedience Even When Things Make No Sense​

will we need to settle for the dollar?

 

[Ritajanice]

I’m being obedient at the moment, where it doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me, it doesn’t have to,God knows exactly what he is doing...his way is the only way.

In Jesus Name...Amen!

Praise God, always giving me heart revelation.,,mind Blowing.

 

[Karl Peters]

A simple thought "don't avoid obedience, because you want to avoid suffering" (selah)

I like the above post but I have to say that from my walking and talking with the Lord: it is not the avoiding suffering that usually causes us people to avoid obedience. It is a whole lot less than that (avoiding suffering) that causes us to not listen to Him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We know that listening to Him is a command from God, and is indeed the foremost command, right?

Mar 12:28,29 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;

Mar 9:7 Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”

So we don't listen to Him like we should and it is not mostly due to us avoiding suffering. It really has more to do that we don't want anyone (EVEN GOD) telling us what to do! We don't need Him, do we? We are smart enough to know what the right thing to do is, right? We have it all together and are doing just fine, so we just don't need to listen to Him, right? Of course not, but that is what our pride tells us, right?

So it is not our fear of suffering, but our pride that usually causes us to avoid obedience to Him. And if that was not the case would we not all be listening to Him throughout the day? I know that is a problem with me, so I only listen to Him about a dozen different times a day, and some of those time He is asking me something like, "Karl, do you want to talk?"


I remember a time, an honest testimony, when I was working as a retail manager and was setting up our summer isle. It was the Saturday before Easter. When a really gorgeous blood lady walk on to the isle to shop. Being a typical guy, but also a Christian, I was trying not to pay attention to her, while I worked. Then the Lord spoke to me and wanted me to ask her if she was going to church tomorrow (Easter).

I had to tell Him that I couldn't do it, I was trying not to think about her. But I told the Lord if He could find a way for help me? Then the lady just started talking to me about how she was looking for thing for a bar-b-que she was planning on having tomorrow. I could have easily asked her if that bar-b-que was after her going to church in the morning. But that was not my response to her comments to me. My comments were about how that was nice. I kind of shut her off, which of course was not good either. And the Lord knew all it, which was obviously why He ask what He did when He did.

Being obedient to the Lord starts with talking back and forth with Him every day called Today. Doing that results is understanding that we are sinners who need Him, His mercy and His grace, to go with our listening to Him! Yeah, perhaps there will be, and there will be times when it might lead to some suffering, but that is not usually the case because He also promises us life and that more abundantly!! And He is not just about you doing things for Him, at your own suffering and expense, but He is mostly about teaching us and educating us. He is about giving us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Yet all that comes from listening to Him!

Prov 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.