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Dealing with Obstacles In 1984 I was a freshman at Topeka High School. One of my classes was in social studies. We examined the different nations of the world and gave reports on them. I don’t remember many things from that class, but I do remember some of the discussions that came up when we talked about Germany – which was then a divided nation, with East Germany still under communism. Eventually an important question came up: Could Germany ever be reunited? The instructor’s answer was probably not. The two countries had for decades evolved in different directions – economically, socially, religiously, governmentally, etc. The odds of it ever happening weren’t likely, he said. Who could have blamed him for thinking that way back then? Yet we now know that in 1984 the Berlin wall, though it stood strong at the time, was doomed. It was destined for destruction in the path of the yearnings of the human spirit – as was the anti-religious communist ideology that it represented. In the Bible, in Joshua 6, we see that the wall of the city of Jericho was also doomed – since it was an obstacle in the path of God’s people. And it brings to mind a question: What kind of walls are you facing in your life? Sometimes we have obstacles that we run into – things that can obstruct or impede God’s plan for our lives. Whether they come from our own sins, or from circumstances that are out of our control, they can certainly seem intimidating and insurmountable. How should we approach them? The approach of God’s people was entirely counter-intuitive. Conventional military wisdom of the day gave three options… 1) Mount a blockade, which would try to starve the city into surrender; 2) Perform a ruse, where the defending troops would be lured out of the city by decoys or other trickery, so a surprise legion or troops could capture the city unarmed. Or, 3) Conduct a direct assault, trying to break through the gates and penetrate the city. The Israelites’ approach was to do none of the above, but to conduct a religious processional using the Ark of the Covenant (representing God’s presence with His people), priests, trumpets, and armed guards – encircling the city for a week (Joshua 6:3-4,12-16). This gesture could appear meaningless to a secular observer, just as a kiss might seem meaningless to someone who doesn’t understand romance. But such gestures are very meaningful in the context of a relationship with God – and great things come from them. They happen every Sunday in churches all over the world. In the case of Joshua and the Israelites, the rest is history. The walls collapsed not by human efforts but by a miracle (Joshua 6:20), and the story bears testimony that our God is a wall-demolishing God. Whatever the obstacle we are facing, God can handle it. The walls may seem insurmountable, but we have a much bigger God. Human wisdom may not stand a chance, but God has means that go beyond the scope of our imagination. This is important because many times God’s wisdom is counter-intuitive. This morning at 3:30 a.m. I couldn’t sleep, so I started reading Martin Luther King’s sermon “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”. In it King talks about his journey of discovery. He said, “As I delved deeper into the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, my skepticism concerning the power of love gradually diminished, and I came to see for the first time that the Christian doctrine of love, operating through the Gandhian method of non-violence, is one of the most potent weapons available to an oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” The worldly wisdom of fighting and military power, which might have led King into the “Black Power” movement, instead was replaced by the counter-intuitive godly wisdom of love and non-violence. And it changed America. God bless you, |