March Madness

It is that time of year when there are several NCAA basketball games on throughout the month. The first part of the month involves conference tournaments. Conferences like Big XII, Big 10, PAC-10, ACC, SEC, WAC, along with several others compete to see who wins. The winners of each conference have an automatic bid into the top sixty-eight, with a chance to make it to number one.

I don’t watch NCAA basketball that much – football is my sport of preference between the two. However, during this time of year, I will watch and enjoy watching basketball. This month tends to be filled with very exciting games and the occasional upset. Fans are hoping for their teams to continue on and upset when their team fails to play to potential and are defeated. Others play the “fill-out-your-bracket” game and enjoy seeing teams win to get them closer to the monetary prize.

As maddening as all this basketball is during the month of March, there is something else that is madness about a march. This isn’t the month of March; rather I am talking about the concept of marching in order to defeat an enemy.

In the book of Joshua, one of my favorite books of the Bible, the Israelites have reached the Promised Land, Moses has passed away and Joshua is in charge. The city of Jericho is within sight. Joshua now sends men in to spy it out before the Israelites take the city. The city has been spied out and the preparations have been made for the Israelites to overcome the city. The maddening part is the method to overcome the city of Jericho.

God tells Joshua to have the Israelites to march around the city one time for the first six days. At the end of the march they can go back to camp. Then, on the seventh day they are to march around the city seven times.

Are you kidding me? God has every method to defeat someone by His people and He chooses to have His people march! This isn’t a type of marching where people just walk over the people, defeating them. This marching is going around the city walls one time for six days, then going home, and seven times on the seventh day. To quote one of the only lines of The Princess Bride, “Maddening, just maddening.” If this was a basketball game, it would be about as entertaining a battle as watching a team stall and stall. Observers would be “booing” the people because there was not any action happening.

I can just imagine the men who were defending the walls were getting a good laugh seeing the Israelites simply walking around then going back to camp. I wonder if the Israelites even brought much for weapons those days they were simply walking.

After the seventh day comes and the Israelites march around the city of Jericho seven times they blow their trumpets and after the noises come forth the walls start to crumble. All the walls, except Rahab’s, who housed the spies, fell inward and the Israelites defeated Jericho.

God’s method to defeat Jericho was “march madness.” Who could have orchestrated much more of a maddening plan than to have people simply march around a city, followed by blowing a few trumpets? No combat at all.

The next time you see a battle on your hands, the solution to the battle may be something that is maddening. However, God can do amazing things with a maddening method!

An Outing Without Doubting - Joshua 6:15-17, 20

"Team, this year the conference championship is ours" says the coach. "All you have to do is practice, show up, and take the field," he continues, "Not only that, but we're going to win Districts, Bi-Districts, Regionals, Sectionals, Sub-state, and State!" By this time the kids are very pumped up. They can't believe it. Compared to last year's sub-par year, this will be awesome!

Can you imagine the hope they have each day and each game? Imagine what might be going through their minds. What would go through yours?

Put into a business perspective and create an endless amount of goals to reach, then imagine what it would be like to pursue that.

Now, imagine how hard you would work, in any instance, if you knew the victory was at hand? Some would still work, though many wouldn't. Think about as the season led on and you kept on winning and winning. You probably wouldn't work that hard as the season went on because your confidence level would be pretty high.

That is similar to what is happening in Joshua. God is guaranteeing the victory, they just have to do a few things to obtain it. This is probably one of the easiest victories in battle history. March around once-a-day for the first six days, then seven times on the seventh day. Blow your horns, shout, and take the plunder, while saving a promised family. Easy huh?

We CAN have it that easy, if we choose to look at it that way. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week from this section in Joshua...

1. March Around ~ We go a lot of places in this world. Some of them we go to regularly. The Israelites only went to Jericho once. Regardless, God may be sending you there to march around in order to give you a victory. Be conscious of the fact that where you go, it may be for the purpose of giving a victory...especially if you are going there on a regular basis.
2. Shout ~We can shout when we're at a sporting event, we can shout when we're mad, we can shout when we're trying to get someone's attention, why not shout to gain the victory? Imagine getting in your car, after "marching" for "six days" and saying "Ok, God...{then shouting...AAAAHHHHHH!} Shout for the victory! Shout like you're trying to break down the walls...of sin, of procrastination, of hesitation, of fear, etc., so you can go in and gain the victory that God has allowed to happen. If you don't experience the "walls coming down" keep marching and shouting!
3. Enemy Routed ~ I am in total awe when I sit back and think, "This is a God-thing". Something I didn't expect, but get a smack-in-the-face wake up call to the fact that what happened was God working with me and/or through me to put me in this situation. How I was in the right place to see a victory come to pass as God uses me, instead of the Enemy, to make a difference in someone's life.
   

One of the main applications that I can see from this section of scripture, is that when something that you feel God is asking you to do, which may seem utterly ridiculous to you, go ahead and do it. Whether you are going to be a dot in a connect-the-dots journey to Christ or you are going to be able to shout so as to knock down walls, do the crazy thing. You will probably be blown away by it as you are seeking Him in the process.

Deuteronomy 20:4 says, "For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." Rest assured that when you are going in to battle, with Him in mind, He can give victory!

I challenged my congregation to start marching for six weeks (figuratively or literally) and then shout, beginning the week of December 20, 2009...see what walls may collapse! Let me know how it goes.