Jericho, the place of fragrance. Highly secured and prosperous. The people built a wall so high, so mighty a brothel was on the wall. No one could go into, or leave Jericho unnoticed. Who could face Jericho in battle or even dare to penetrate through her great wall? To the rest of the world, Jericho was a strong city, absolutely indomitable.
The children of Israel had to posses the promise land but, Jericho was an obstruction on the way. Israel did not intend to possess the land of Jericho, but she just would not allow Israel pass through her for she had her fear. One she had succeeded, until now, to hide behind her walls. To Jericho, the wall was more than a barricade, it was all she had and could hold on to. It was a facade to conceal the unpleasantries within. Jericho had lost heart, and everything along with it, upon hearing of the advancement of the Israelites. All that was left was the wall. At least it still passed a message of 'strength' to the world - although it was untrue.
In Jericho’s shoe we all stand. As we all have a lie we tell, or have told the world around us. A fear or doubt we carefully hide away. We all have, at some point, shed tears no one else knew about, nursed heartaches we cold not share, and still managed to smile ‘to make them THINK we are happy’.
Come on people! We all have built walls around our lives, so high that even God finds it difficult to reach us. (Remember the people with a heart of stone). Think about it friends, why do we, like Jericho, hold on to our walls, even though these walls (fears, insecurities, lies, rejections) cannot protect our fainting hearts? I mean, why hold on to nothing when all that is available is -nothing?
I tell you why friends, we are afraid. Yes people, we really are afraid. What other reason is there for a lady or a guy not to give up an abusive relationship? Or why would any Christian want to hold on to a sin she hates so much? It is called FEAR. Let's face it people, we hold on to our walls for the very reason we want to let go of them. But guess what, no matter how tenaciously we hold on to our walls, we do not know how to effectively do so.
Like the wall of Jericho, every wall has a Rahab (Hebrew word for proud) living within the walls. Let's look at this critically. Why would any sensible person allow a woman of easy virtue - who would allow strangers in and out of her home at a price- live in a wall meant for security? Tell me friends, in case of attack, can this woman defend the city? Well I guess she could, if the weapon of war is seduction and the enemy is just as perverse. Seriously though, shouldn't it be armed guards at the walls in place of Rahab?
Could it be because Jericho really wanted to go beyond the walls? Let us face it, we want to go beyond our walls, even though we have built them ourselves. There is a tiny part of us that still is 'human' that wants to be free. Man naturally hates restrictions. Rahab is that part of us that understand the laws of freedom. (There is freedom in release). Imagine if everyone on Jericho was like Rahab? We definitely will not be singing "the walls of Jericho fell down flat' many centuries later. The expertise used in building the walls of Jericho might have been used to rebuild the broken-down walls of Jerusalem many years down the line (I’m just saying). The possibilities are boundless if like Rahab we yield. She got her name in the genealogy of Jesus!
You know the mistake we, like Jericho, make? We think we belong to ourselves. Well we don’t. Like Jericho, we all belong to God. Our walls should not shut God out. When we shut people out, we shut God out. Our attitude towards God is often expressed in our relationship with man. Because God so desperately wants to reach us, He has to pull down our walls just as He did to Jericho. You see, God cannot stand Self-constructed walls. He wants to be our wall. He understands the secret hurts and pains. He has offered to shield us from them that is why He wants to be our wall. But not only that, He promises to be the glory in our midst. He wants to be our everything inside out.
Did I just hear you scream "WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT DO I GET IF HE GETS EVERYTHING?' Well, the answer is simply everything. Absolutely everything. You see, this is how it works. God take everything from you, customizes it and then gives it back to us. It then becomes custom made. Exclusively yours. No one can take it away from you. Then everything we own now becomes like the Yoruba proverbial King's trumpet (KAKAKI OBA). Because of the uniqueness of the sound it produces, it is useless to the thief because he could get caught should he dare to blow it. What is the use of a trumpet you cannot blow?
Even though Jericho was destroyed, her shoes were not. We all struggle to fit into those shoes, in fact many of us fit in perfectly. But you see, we do not have to wear them, because DADDY has got better ones for us. So give over every wall and "ish-shoes' to Him and you will not regret it. Can I promise you? Maybe not. But Our Father promises us so.
