Six Days of Laps and Nothing to Show for It

Six Days of Laps and Nothing to Show for It

You've prayed about it. You've shown up. You've done the work. And the wall is still standing.

Maybe it's the job that never opens up, a family situation that won't budge, or a dream you've carried so long it's started to feel heavy. Some days you wonder if any of your effort is making a difference at all.

Israel knew that feeling. In Joshua 6 they stood outside Jericho with a promise from God and a wall in their way. God said, "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor" (Joshua 6:2, NKJV). Promise in hand. Problem in front. And the plan God gave them made no military sense: march around the city once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventh, then blow the trumpets and shout.

Pastor Lonnie put it this way: "The miracle wasn't just in what Israel did. The miracle was also how and when they did it." He pointed to Ecclesiastes 3:1, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven," and walked through three seasons hidden in the Jericho story.

A Time to March

Every day for six days, Israel walked around the same wall. The wall didn't move. The gates didn't open. Nobody surrendered. Nothing seemed to change. But God said march, because, in Pastor Lonnie's words, "there is a season for preparation before there is a season of possession."

He shared a story from his military days. On a long road march, carrying full packs and weapons, he told his commanding officer his soldiers needed a break. The officer asked if they had their MREs and their water. Yes, sir. Then keep marching, he said, because another company was waiting on them to reach the meeting point. They kept going and arrived about eight minutes early.

Marching, he said, means making a plan, believing in the plan, and having the discipline to follow through. You can't reach the goal if you keep changing directions every time you hit resistance. And you don't need to force what God hasn't released.

A Time to Shout

Israel didn't shout on day one. Or day two. Or day six. They shouted when Joshua said, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!" (Joshua 6:16, NKJV). Pastor Lonnie's warning here is one worth taping to the fridge: "Even a good thing can become the wrong thing when it's done at the wrong time."

He invited the church to use a little holy imagination. What if every lap was doing something beneath the surface Israel couldn't see? He was careful to say he wasn't claiming that's how it happened. His point was simpler: "God doesn't have to explain his method for us to trust his miracle." Your obedience may be preparing the ground for your breakthrough.

And when the time does come, the shout isn't just noise. It's a declaration that you still believe God. Stop whispering and start witnessing. Your voice matters. Your testimony matters.

A Time to Fight

Here's the part people skip. When the wall fell flat, Israel still had to go up into the city and take it (Joshua 6:20). Ecclesiastes says there is "a time of war, and a time of peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:8, NKJV), and real discernment is knowing which season you're in.

Fighting doesn't always mean fighting people. Sometimes it means fighting doubt, fear, and discouragement. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities" (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV). There comes a time to stop marching around the problem and start moving toward the promise.

Your Time Might Be Now

Pastor Lonnie closed with words for anyone who's been waiting a long time: you have marched long enough, gone around the mountain long enough, carried the same burden long enough. Maybe you've been asking, "Lord, when is it my time?" Maybe the answer is now. If you need salvation, forgiveness, healing, or direction, God has His arms open. None of us are perfect. As he prayed at the end, we're just forgiven by grace and mercy.

Live It This Week

1.     Make the plan, then work it. Write down where you believe God is leading you and the next step, then follow through even on the days the wall doesn't seem to move.

2.     Use your voice. Tell someone what God has done for you. Your testimony matters more than you think.

3.     Name what you're fighting. Doubt, fear, discouragement. Call it what it is, and when God opens a door, walk through it.

Father, thank You for Your grace and Your mercy. Some of us have been marching around the same wall for a long time, and we're tired. Give us the discipline to keep moving when we can't see anything changing. Teach us to know what season we're in. When it's time to shout, open our mouths to declare that we still believe You. When it's time to fight, give us courage to walk through the door You've opened. Forgive us where we've fallen short. We're not perfect, just forgiven. In Jesus' name, amen.

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