So this past Sunday I got done speaking and looked at the video from the sermon and saw a run time of 42 minutes, which is a long time for me.  Of course I immediately checked with a couple people and they gave me the requisite, “Well is sure didn’t feel like it was long, it was really interesting.”   I’m always grateful for people who are smart enough to say such things.  

Still, sometimes we find ourselves in the position where things just seem like they are going to go on and on forever.  I’ve felt this way in staff meetings, and in church services, and piano recitals and all kinds of places, and when it finally ends, it’s a feeling of great relief.

Sometimes, however, when the waiting ends, things just get more and more intense.  Imagine the people living in the city of Jericho when the people under the command of Joshua came against the city.  For six days the people of Israel got up every morning and marched around the city.  He priests went in front and the the rams horn were blowing.  I can see it, on the first day the people inside the city were probably thinking, “What the heck are they doing?”

Day two, “Really?   Here they go again.”

Day three, “This is getting a little old already.”

Day four through six, “Is this ever going to end”

Day seven, “Once, twice, three times, how many times are they going to do this today?   How long will this go on?”

Then all of a sudden, after seven times, there was a shout, and the walls came tumbling down.

​We are going to look deeper at this story this coming Sunday.  We are going to look it at from the standpoint of the people in the city, and from the one of the people marching around the city.  What we may find is that God’s timing is the only timing that matters.