“Walking in Circles, Standing on Promises”
By Dayle K. Barrett
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Reading: Joshua 6:1-20
A story about the destruction of Jericho. I'm sure all of you know the song associated with this passage, right? Don't worry, I'm not going to sing it. It's a story we probably all learned in Sunday school. We've heard songs about it. In this pivotal battle, the people of Israel are circling this stronghold, and then bang, the walls come crumbling down at the moment they shout and they go in and rout the city. Here's the verse we don't hear as often though, and probably one they didn't tell you in Sunday school. Verse 21: “They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword.”
That gives a different tone to the whole story now, doesn't it? It was cool at first. There were trumpets, there was marching, the walls fell down, cool miracle, right? And then a bit of genocide… It's a tough one to read. It's a tough one to accept. You think, what are we supposed to learn from a passage like that? And it's a really important question to ask because this passage comes with a very deep and troubling history. In North America, this passage was often used by settlers years in gone by to justify slaughter and justify horrible acts against the indigenous peoples that were here.
The story told was that settlers were the new Israel and North America was the new Canaan, the promised land, the place God had given to us, and so we could take it by any means necessary. You see what happens when you take scripture and use it to do what you want it to do, right? You can justify all sorts of evil if you read good texts in the wrong ways. So, what does it mean then? How is it useful for us? Well, thankfully, there's a whole Bible, not just one chapter, and one thing it's really good to get to know how to do is to let the Bible interpret itself.
Often something that seems hidden in one part of God's word is totally revealed in another. God gives us this text, the book of Hebrews, Chapter four, in which we're told this: “If Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterwards have spoken of another day. Therefore, there remains a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his.” The writer is telling us that stories like this about entering and taking the promised land are to be a type and a shadow of things to come.
For us, they're not stories for us to replicate military conquests for our own good. Rather, they're to tell us something about how to seize the promises that God has for us: a promise of rest. A place where there's no death, no crying, no illness, no tears, a place we know as the kingdom of God. So how do we lay hold of God's promise? How do we enter God's rest? Paul tells us this in Ephesians 6: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against forces of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.”
When we read of a story of God's people going in and completely taking a city, we have to take it for what it's trying to say to us today. Not that it's okay to go and conquer and pillage and destroy other people groups, no. In fact, exactly the opposite. That God has a kingdom ready for us that He wants us to lay hold of; not an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly one. And we have to be absolutely relentless in pursuit of the promises of justice and peace that God has in store for our lives. If this story is going to mean anything to us today, we have to place ourselves in it, not with physical swords and shields and battle orders, but with the word of God, God's presence in our lives, and our eyes set on the promise that God has given us.
In this story, you are Israel, and Jericho is the stronghold standing between you and all that God has for you. Peace in your life. Hope in your days. Love in your every single experience. The kingdom of God is near, but we have to go and take it. So, here's the question. What is your Jericho? What is the stronghold standing between you and all the blessings that God has for you in your life? What is stopping you from achieving that eternal peace you have been longing for? What is getting in the way of the blessings that God has promised you? I'm sure it's different for every single one of us, isn't it?
For some of us, we're trying to unlearn mindsets that have been taught to us since we were young. For some of us, we have traumas that are unhealed that we need to work through. For some of us, it's a bad habit or an addiction. For some, it's just that we can't let go of that gripe that we have against somebody; unforgiveness nestled within that gets in the way of us and all that wants that God wants to give us.
I want us to look at this text as a roadmap to victory, not a military victory, but a victory in your life, to become the overcomer that God has designed you to be.
What is your Jericho? Well, the story starts with a bit of a difficult saying. That just like in many of our own lives, the things we're trying to conquer sometimes look impossible. Israel was coming up against one of the oldest cities ever. It had big, strong walls, deep strongholds. It was a military giant. And when they came up against it, they noticed in verse one it says that Jericho was securely shut up because of the people of Israel. Earlier we heard that they'd already heard of these people called Israel. They heard about these people that followed God and who God walked with. They'd heard about the parting of the Red Sea, about the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They'd heard about how God descended on Sinai and wrote his law upon tablets of stone with his very finger and gave it to his people to live by. They'd heard about how he fed the manna in the desert, and that they were fed for 40 years as they lived in the wilderness. The enemies of God, the people that stood between God's people and their blessings, were standing there terrified behind the gates.
On the inside, they were in fear, but from outside the gates, it may have looked to Israel that trouble was afoot. They were a bit worried that they weren't going to be able to conquer this thing, that they weren't going to be able to get past this stronghold, this barrier that was between them and all that God had promised them. But you see, God foresaw their concern and in verse two promised them this:
“I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and its mighty man of valor.”
Pay attention to the tense God uses… Before a single soldier's foot has touched the ground and started marching, before a single trumpet has entered the hands of a priest. Before a single person has gone anywhere near the stronghold of Jericho, God uses past tense language with Israel. He doesn't say, I'm about to give you Jericho into your hands. He doesn't say I'm about to give you victory over this enemy of yours. He says, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. How many people here know today that when God gives you a promise, it's as good as done?
You can take it to the bank, seal it away. It's signed, sealed, and delivered. There's no take- backs. God does not say words with fingers crossed behind his back. When he tells you something is about to happen, it's as if it has already happened. God said to Israel, “I have given you Jericho into your hands.” And this is the same way God talks to us about the things that are in our lives. Because as soon as you accepted Jesus into your life, as soon as you were baptized, as soon as you became part of the family of God, he says if you're a child, then you're an heir, an heir of God and joint heirs with Christ. He said that he who overcomes shall inherit all things. Yet sometimes we end up walking around as if we don't know if God has any more for us. As if we don't know if God's really going to take us past
what's been bothering us for so long? As if we don't know whether God's capable of bringing healing to that thing that's rotting away at our core. But God wants you to know today, friends, that He has already given your Jericho into your hands, and all you have to do now is walk by faith around that stronghold until God causes the walls to fall.
That's the tough part though, isn't it? Do you ever feel like you're walking in circles, going around the same issue again and again and again, waiting for God to deal with it? You know, this week you were doing a little bit better, you felt a little more motivated than you did before, but then after a few days, you wake up and you don't want to get out of bed. You're back in that cycle again. You were doing really well, you felt more confident, and then something happened, and now you're feeling anxious and you don't even know how to open your mouth. It's like you're back in that cycle again. My single people, you're on those dating apps, you're trying to meet the right person, but you keep bumping into the same kind of toxic human every single time you match, it's like you're going around in circles again, wandering around a stronghold, waiting for God to do something.
This was Israel's pattern for an entire week. I imagine when the people of Jericho looked over the walls and saw the people of Israel marching around, not drawing their swords, not screaming for victory, not charging the gates, they must have wondered what on earth they were doing. Like, look at these silly Israelites. This is supposed to be a war; they're just walking in circles. And what's that weird golden box they're carrying? It must have been strange. It must have seemed completely irrational. That's not how you take a city. I'm not sure what they're doing, but it was not waging war against Jericho. You see, sometimes you have to do things that seem irrational. You have to stick to your guns and continue on the path that God has set you on, trusting that God, not you Is going to bring you victory in your life.
Who's been watching the World Cup? Show of hands. Fewer than I thought. Okay. It's amazing. I've seen amazing players over the last few weeks, especially yesterday. Sometimes you watch this beautiful game and you're absolutely mesmerized, right? You're like, how does this guy do that with his foot? How did he come from all the way over there, slide in, and hit the ball exactly where it needed to go? But it's years, decades of circling, isn't it? It's years of saying to your friends when they're like, hey, do you want to go to the club? They say, no, I've got practice. It's years of dribbling down fields instead of being on your video games. It's years of dedication and obedience, trusting that if you continue on the path that you have set in front of you, one day you're going to be the best at that which you have to do. The people who are excelling in their field like that are people who are dedicated and obedient to the mission that was in front of them.
Similarly, we sometimes spend time circling. God says, I want you to go around this stronghold one more time. Again? I already tried that. It didn't work. It's okay. Go around one more time. You want me to keep praying? I already asked you for that. I didn't get it. God says, go around one more time. You want me to read my Bible? I don't even understand what it says. But God says, go around one more time. Because in that obedience, in that circling, you're saying to God and you're learning within yourself that you can stand on a promise that God has given you. And every single time you circle that stronghold, every single time you go around that situation, you're giving it over to God and reminding yourself of the promise that God gave you when He said, “See, I have given that stronghold into your hands.”
One thing that seems to tip the scales when you're watching those games, I've really noticed that you can tell what a team's priorities are by their formation. Do they put more energy to the front where the strikers are? Do they make sure there are some scorers in their midfield, or do they want their best defenders on? Where you place the players says a lot about your strategy for that match.
So, it's good to pay attention to how God sets up the players in this conquest. In verse 8, it tells us that when Joshua had spoken to the people, seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the Ark of the Covenant followed them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpet, and the rear guard came after the Ark.
It’s written in a funny order, but this is how it looked. The armed men with the swords, they were at the front, marching. Behind the armed men with the swords, there were seven priests with the trumpets. These are rams' horns. When you blow them, it's a sound of victory. To the people of Israel, this was the very voice of God and of God's promise. And they're standing there marching behind the armed men. Behind the men with the seven trumpets is the Ark of the Covenant. A beautiful box laden with gold. On top of it are two cherubim. And the people of Israel believed that on those cherubim, the mercy seat, sat the very presence of God. It was like carrying your king into battle. And behind the Ark of the Covenant, the rear guard, watching and waiting to make sure that nobody came to attack from behind.
But this tells us something about Israel's priorities. Because at that time in battle it was popular for the king, for the general, for the strongman to be at the front of the army. Often, unless you'd earned it in a hereditary way, kings and generals were made by being the strongest, the one who had slaughtered many men. They would make them their leader. It wasn't uncommon for such a king to be at the front of the battle formation, leading the troops into battle. But Israel didn't have a king. Israel was led by God, and the presence of God in that Ark of the Covenant was in the very centre of their formation.
It reminds me of Luke 17 when Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” Power in their army was not at the front; it wasn't the people with the swords in their hands. The power in their army wasn't at the back; it wasn't the rear guard. The power in the army was that these people carried the very presence of God with them while they were circling their stronghold.
If you've been going round in circles with the same issue, it's easy to forget that God's very presence has been with you that whole time. Sometimes we forget what's in the gold box we're carrying. Sometimes we forget that the God who's with us is the same God that split the Red Sea, who created the universe with the words of his mouth, the One who raised Jesus from the dead, the One who poured out his spirit upon the apostles. He's the same God that's with you even when you're circling, even when you're doing that mindless task, even when you don't think what you're doing is going to lead you anywhere. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He's in the middle of your formation.
So, they walk around in circles for six days. Most of us would have quit by day three, right? Like, come on, Joshua, again? Can we just storm the gate? No, we've got to go around and around and around. And they go around. And as they're going around, they're given this really strange order. Joshua says, “none of you open your mouth.” The only sound while they were moving around this situation, the only sound while they were circling this stronghold was the sound of the shofar. It was the sound of the trumpet. It was the sound of victory. While the walls were still standing, while the troops were still inside the gate, while their enemy was still a menace to them, they were walking around, listening to the sound of victory as they went.
Sometimes, friends, we don't get the victories we want in our life because we want to storm the gate prematurely. We want to work in our own effort to secure that which God wants to give to us. But he says, if you would just wait on me and be quiet, if you would just listen to my voice, which proclaims victory, if you would just hear me through the trumpet, tell you that I've given it into your hand. When I say go, you'll have exactly what I have to give you.
For six days they marched, didn't open their mouths. For six days they circled this same situation, looking like it wasn't going anywhere. For six days they heard this promise repeated over and over again through those trumpets, until finally the time came. The trumpets blew on the seventh day, and the people let up a shout of victory, which sounds like a really weird time to let out a shout of victory, right? The walls are still up, the troops are still in there, not a single thing has been killed. Your swords are still in your sheaths. But you're screaming for victory?
You see, some of us think that this is how it should go. That God should give us everything we've been promised, everything we're believing Him for. And then we should praise him for what he's done. Right? We think we need to get our lives in order, be really, really good Christians, and then after that, God's gonna reward us by doing good things for us, giving us blessings. And after we've got the blessings, then we praise God and we thank God for the blessings. But this story flips the whole thing on its head. The people of Israel came to the gates. And when God said to shout, they let up a shout of victory. Before a single stone had fallen from the wall, before a single soldier in their enemy's camp had died, they were praising God for what God had said he had already done. And this is exactly what the psalmist teaches us in Psalm 42. He says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, who is the help of my countenance and my God?”
Sometimes, friends, you've got to find a praise inside you when it doesn't make sense yet. Sometimes you've got to find a praise inside you when everything you're trying to get past still looks like it's impossible. Sometimes you've got to find that praise inside your body and lift it up to the Lord because He said He's going to give it to you. It's a shout of victory. It's a shout of faith. And when the people of Israel let up their praise, when the people of Israel gave God the praise that He was due, despite what everything looked like, God took authority over their situation, and the walls came crumbling down. I want to let you know that whatever you're going through today, if you would just be obedient to God, if you would just keep Christ at the center of your life. If you would just walk around and be quiet and wait on the Lord until he says it's time to speak, he'll tell you exactly when it's time to open your mouth. And as you give him the glory, he will give you the victory.
So, if the praise comes before the conquest, then what do you do after the walls have fallen? Well, we go back to that verse that sounded really troubling. The Bible says they walked in and slaughtered absolutely everything. And that's probably the toughest verse in this whole story to wrap your heads around until you realize what this thing is. Because I'm sure there are things in all of our lives that need to die today, right? The hatred you hold in your heart towards someone because they're different than you, that needs to die today. The unforgiveness you have towards someone who hurt you, that needs to die today. That self-loathing that stops you from looking in the mirror and loving yourself the way that God loves you, that needs to die today. That bad habit, that thing that stops you living in the blessing that God has for you, that has to die today.
And because God has given you the victory, because God's presence has been with you all this time, because you've built a lifestyle of practicing the presence of God, God wants you to know that you can take authority over every single one of those things that is hindering your life. Because the same God who was with you in the circling, is gonna be with you while you fight. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
So, as we look for victory and our future friends, I ask you to do this. Remember that what God has promised you is already done. Go and be obedient to the word that God has given you. Keep Christ at the center of your life and praise God whether you see it coming or not. Because our God is faithful and he promises victory, while we’re walking in circles and standing on promises. Thanks be to God. Amen.