Have you ever developed an amazingly solid plan to accomplish something, and then, everything changes and nothing goes as you planned?  Experts say it is always good to have a plan in place – this could be a life plan, a 5-year plan or even just a plan for your day tomorrow.  Take a 5-year plan for example and think about where you were 5-years ago.  Think about where you thought you would be today – did your vision then look like the reality that it is today?  And more importantly, did you arrive here just like you planned?

I know my answer.  There are some pieces of today that are pretty much like I envisioned and there are many that are not how I planned – but one thing is very clear, the path to get here has been nothing like I imagined.  And the outcome…has exceeded my expectations.  The trick…knowing the promise that He will make ALL things good…and trusting that His plan is better than ours.

Take Joshua for example.  This is a story I love.  In fact, I love everything about Joshua and his story.  But more specifically, I want to take a look at Joshua 6.

Here we have Joshua, relatively fresh as the new leader following the death of Moses.  Now is his time to shine – he is at Jericho and we pick up in verse 2:

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed mend.  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, 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.”

I don’t know about you, but if this was the “strategic military plan” brought back to me by my general, in this case Joshua, when we are ready to take siege to a walled city…I might question the sanity.  I would think Joshua already had a good plan in place – one that may have worked – but it wasn’t one that would provide God the glory.

Look at the first words again from the Lord to Joshua – “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands”.  The Lord needed Joshua to get the mental image of the accomplished goal.  The city was already won.  The problem was already solved.

Truly, the plan was actually quite simple.  March, than praise and shout.  No scaling the walls, no timed assault.  Simply walk, march and shout.  With that, here is how I see we need to apply this to our own problems:

1. You must SEE the end result before it comes to pass.

Picture it in your mind.  What are you standing in faith for?  Stop, think it through, visualize it.  It is already finished according to God.

2. His plan might not make sense…but it is always easier then ours.

If Joshua would have tried to execute on his attack plan, I guarantee it would have been much more difficult and would have involved a lot of sweat, blood and tears.  The plan that the Lord had was quite different and gave an amazing result.

3. The key to making the wall collapse was praising Him.

No matter what they did, the key to the wall collapsing was simply giving praise and glory to Him!

Questions: What are the walls in your life?  What is standing between you and your promised land?  Are you trying to execute your plan…or are you willing to let His plan play out?