Are you waiting for a breakthrough in your life? Perhaps you are working hard hoping that the door of opportunity to advancement will open at work. Perhaps the key relationships in your life are stuck at an unsatisfactory level of intimacy. Perhaps you are emotionally stuck and can’t get over a loss, be it an estranged or distant child, a break-up or a even a death. Perhaps you are like me and simply waiting for God to show you the next steps in your life.
My devotional reading from Joshua and Acts spoke to my heart as I was reading about the Israelites entering the Promised Land in Joshua and the apostles starting the church in Jerusalem. These were two watershed moments for the people of God, where significant historical breakthroughs led to decisive victories. Each required perseverance, each tested the faith, courage and resolve of God’s people, and each happened in an unexpected unique way. Today, unexpectedly, I learned about a third turning point in the history of our country. I find that often this is how God speaks to me. He shows me things in his word and then reinforces the lessons I read by bringing me life experiences that encourage me to believe.
First, imagine being a foot soldier in Joshua’s army. God literally stops the Jordan river, at flood stage, so that you and all the people of Israel cross on dry ground. The pain of circumcision and healing are followed by the celebration of passover… and then the manna stops. The miraculous food of God no longer appears in the morning. The military campaign has become urgent. Now you must conquer the promised land to eat… or you will starve. There is no provision for a long siege.
You face the first fortified city to be conquered, Jericho. Despite hearing of Israel’s successful exploits east of the Jordan, the people of Jericho feel secure behind their walls. Thanks to a kindly prostitute, Rahab, the spies of Israel are not captured and bring an encouraging report, but they had to climb down those walls using ropes to escape. Imagine seeing those enormous fortified walls for the first time as you trudge around an impressive fortified city listening to the horns of the priests blowing before the golden ark of God. It strikes fear in the enemy. The circuit is long as the armies of Israel must keep far enough away to avoid projectiles. The gates are shut and the walls are sound. There is no way to break through.
Each day your commander calls you to march. Each day the horns blow. Each day you march with new expectation. Each day nothing happens. After 40 years of resting on the Sabbath, God throws a curve ball. There is no Sabbath rest this week! After six days of marching like this you are told to march yet again. Not just once but seven times around the city. Time to strap on the sandals and persevere in faith. Then finally the call comes from Joshua to shout with all your might. A thunderous roar is released from all the people of God and these enormous walls fall. In the Jewish Book of Legends this miracle is described as “the earth swallowing up the walls”. God makes a way to enter the city, a break through, and in a moment everything changes. The enemy is completely routed.
Peter has a similar test of faith as he enters Jerusalem headed toward the temple. It comes in a most unlikely way. Peter is expecting conflict. Jesus was crucified by the Jewish leaders he is headed to confront. At the gate a lame beggar asks him for money. Peter realizes that he has nothing to give the poor fellow. The Holy Spirit prompts him to compassion as he looks the beggar in the eye so Peter says, “silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you… In the name of Jesus of Nazareth walk.” In faith he lifts the cripple to his feet… and he is healed. The beggar cries with joy and becomes the witness that stirs all of Jerusalem. He is jumping and leaping and praising God in the temple proclaiming that he has been healed. Even the leaders admit it is an outstanding miracle that none can deny. Peter is emboldened to preach and thousands believe and are saved. God uses the most unlikely folks, a cripple and two “unschooled ordinary” fisherman from back water Galilee (literally in the Greek the word that they call Peter and John is “idiots”). The breakthrough softens cold hearts to the good news.
Today Linda and I visited the Civil War Battlefield at Pamplin Historical Park just south of Petersburg, Virginia. We thought it would be a nice break about halfway through a long drive from Falls Church, Va to Durham, NC. What I didn’t know was that this battlefield was the break through point of the Civil War. Literally at that site the union army finally broke through the Confederate line of General Lee. After more than 9 months of stalemate in Petersburg the battle was bleak. The two armies had miles of trench lines with high earthen mounds facing each other. The soldiers stood behind these makeshift walls with guns. They were dug in and artillery was constantly being fired. Every serious offensive had failed. Tens of thousands of lost lives was causing political turmoil for Lincoln. General Grant kept trying to cut off the supply lines of Lee’s confederate army, but kept failing.
Finally Grant sent a regiment of men in a surprise attack near a swamp in an otherwise unremarkable stretch of earthen works held by the confederates south of Petersburg. The 45,000 union soldiers vastly outnumbered the 1800 confederates. But they didn’t know this. These men were weary of war and cautious. They had seen too many failed attempts. The commander had to use the blunt end of his sword to force his men to charge. But they ultimately did charge, and finally one young man from Vermont, made a “wrong turn” heading at right angles to the intended breaching point and ran into the confederate line, unexpectedly near a gap which the confederates used as a privy (they would relieve themselves in the no man’s land between the two forces, away from the confederate camp). He and the three men with him were the first to fight the enemy at close range. He lost his pistol and was immediately stabbed, but miraculously survived three bayonet wounds. The army charged and overran the confederate position at multiple points in some of the bloodiest bayonet fighting of the civil war. This break through of the confederate line left a clear path to cut the railroad supply line of Lee’s army. Lee had to flee Petersburg and was soon thereafter surrounded and forced to surrender.
I am encouraged that the simple acts of obedience or ordinary men who had faith in their leaders ultimately led to the break through that changed everything. It encourages me to pray and trust God, because he has proved that he is always faithful. The breakthrough is coming. Just persevere and don’t lose faith. But remember, the breakthrough may not look like you expect. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, God’s ways are higher than our ways… so expect the unexpected. And, as the Rabbi from the Book of Legends said as he spoke about the walls of Jericho, when you see the miracles of God, or remember the place where they occurred, give praise and be grateful.
Atheist to Elder 