The city of Jericho’s walls tumbling down is one of the most beloved and well known stories of the Old Testament. For centuries, though, there was no evidence of Jericho. In the 1930s, a British archeologist named John Garstang found a mound beyond the Jordan River that was the legendary city of Jericho. He unearthed extensive remains of a walled city, and discovered the walls to be incredibly well engineered. There was an outer wall and an inner wall, and in between was dirt that became a trap for invaders.

The people of Israel had to face those unconquerable walls of Jericho before they could enter into the Promised Land. They had, literally, “hit the wall.”

Are you hitting a wall? In your marriage, in your job, in your ministry, in a relationship? You feel like you just want to throw in the towel and quit. You’re not seeing the results that you thought you’d be seeing by now. You don’t want to go one step further.

We all hit walls. It can be a wall of illness, of discouragement, of an ongoing challenge. We’re going to face walls in our life that are not of our choosing, but we do have a choice in how we’re going to face that wall.

God gave the Israelites an almost ridiculous order: to march around the city of Jericho carrying the Ark of the Covenant for seven days. Ridiculous! Their responsibility was to obey. The outcome was God’s responsibility. That odd order was all about trusting God.

Imagine if the Israelites had given up. Stopped marching around the city on Day 6. After all, not a single brick had moved, no mud had crumbled. Nothing.

And then came day 7.

Sometimes we see nothing until that breakthrough moment.

Excavation of the site in the 1950s by archeologist Kathleen Kenyon discovered that a cataclysmic event in Jericho had caused the inner walls to collapse outward and hit the outer walls, creating a ramp for the invading army. That was how the city of Jericho fell. But did it fall to the Israelites or other invaders? The date of the city’s fall remained in question for decades.

Fast forward another sixty years. In the 1990s, a New York Times article (Believers Score in Battle over the Battle of Jericho) reported new evidence that confirmed the timing of the Biblical account.

Whatever wall you might be facing…don’t stop on Day 6. The Israelites would’ve missed the Promised Land. Trust that God’s timing is perfect even when it seems like nothing is happening.

Scarcity Says…Give up! Quit. After all, you’re not seeing any progress.

Abundance Answers… “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10, msg).