In April 2020, Britain, hard-hit by COVID-19, was in lockdown. No one was to come or go except for essential purposes.
At a backyard barbecue near London, Tom Moore’s family challenged the 99-year-old, who had broken a hip in 2018, to walk the 82-foot paved perimeter around his garden. Tom and his walker answered the challenge. This led to a fundraising page, with the goal of 100 laps by his upcoming 100th birthday, with the money to go to the hard-pressed National Health Service of the UK.
The appeal—and daily videos of the stooped old man, in coat and tie, circling the garden—went viral. Donations poured in. Tom Moore raised an astonishing $40 million. And in the process, he lifted a nation’s spirits.
Small Laps Around High Walls
As Tom persevered, he undoubtedly thought about what he was up against—a 99-year-old trying to make a difference by going in small circles with a walker.
Hmmm, small circles. . . .
“Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in”(Josh. 6:1). Lockdown.
“March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days,”the Lord instructed Joshua(vs. 3). To a people accustomed to desert wanderings, circling the nine-acre city was a lap around a garden.
Besides, they couldn’t overcome the fortifications. They couldn’t engage an enemy in lockdown. They couldn’t expect to wait out residents who had access to spring water and plenty of food from the recent harvest.
But they could walk.
So, they marched small laps around an impenetrable stronghold, wearing down a path of obedience in hopes of gaining their Promised Land. After each turn, they camped and waited, until . . .
“On the seventh day, march around the city seven times”(vs. 4). Then, as trumpets blow and people shout, “the wall of the city will collapse”(vs. 5).
And it did!
You’ll Never Walk Alone
I’ve done circles like that. I’m doing them these days, as I pray for someone I love who is walled up and locked down.
And God’s orders in Joshua 6 remind me that I also need to enlist the priests with trumpets (my praise) and the ark of the Lord (God’s presence). In other words, I’m to be encircling my Jericho with obedient prayer, praising God all the while, in company and in step with the Holy Spirit (vs. 13).
Day after day after day.
It might sound monotonous, but I find it spiritually invigorating that God and I are repeatedly making laps of obedience around an entrenched holdout. I can’t know the outcome. But I know God is intentional about this, and I’m anticipating His results.
Does your world include a Jericho? Is God calling you to circle an obstacle, a person, a need, with obedient intercession? If He is, take up the challenge and begin praying, around and around and around. Until the wall falls down.
SANDY MAYLE is a frequent contributor to Prayer Connect and resides in Erie, PA.
