When fact contradicts truth
By Vinod Isaac
 
Josh 6:5 "It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him."

As God was leading Israel from Egypt to the land of Canaan, Joshua and the Israelites faced an impossible task of conquering Jericho. Jericho was a fortified city and it's gates were securely shut. There was no way that the Israelites could enter Jericho. The fact was for getting into Jericho was impossible but the truth was that God had already given Jericho in the hands of the Israelites.

In the physical realm, fact and truth are one and the same but in spiritual realm most of the time truth contradicts the fact. Joshua's situation was exactly the same. Every thing that he was seeing didn't look good. He was not in a position to be able to find a solution, but God gave clear instruction to go all around the city once a day for six days and then on the seventh day to march around the city seven times and blow the trumpet.

Well, there is a problem. The very army that is supposed to prepare for the war is asked to go round and round around the city till they are exhausted. After making regular rounds around the city for six days and then making seven rounds on the seventh day, will they be left with strength to fight? Not only that was a fact, there was no way that walls are going to come down making just rounds around a city and blowing the trumpet. Well that is what the fact was. But truth was totally contradictory to the fact.

Truth was that when they do it, not only will the walls of Jericho come down but the Israelites will get victory also. Only what they had to do was to trust and obey. Any time if a person wants to see God moving into action and making impossible into possible he/she needs faith.

Keeping that faith when nothing seems to be happening is another challenge for a believer. The Israelites marched on the first day, went back to their camp, but nothing happened, not even a small stone fell. They marched the second day and again nothing happened. They marched six days like this and nothing happened. Probably by this time devil is trying to tell them, "see nothing happens, not even one stone falls." But they continued to march and they marched seven times on the seventh day and again nothing happened. Probably they may be thinking by this time, "now what"? Well then the trumpets sounded and Joshua said to the people "Lord has given you the city". Joshua, are you kidding? I don't see even a stone falling. I don't even see a small crack in the walls of Jericho. Was Joshua telling a lie? No, he was speaking the truth. Then who was it that was telling the lie? It was the fact that was telling the lie.

Josh 6:16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!

And at the command of Joshua, people shouted believing and trusting that Lord had already given the city. And lo and behold the city walls came crashing down. The walls that could not be moved by mighty warriors fell down like a sand castle falls to the ground. Something non factual and impossible has become a fact now. Fact has contradicted itself and the truth had it's victory.

I remember when we were sitting in the family room of hospital on Oct 3rd. Doctors have said that there is nothing more that can be done for your dad. Even putting him on ventilator will not help. While sitting in that room chaplain walked in and he was trying to say consoling words. My Mom said no he is not going to die he is going to live. I thought in my mind, "Oh no, not at this time. Now we have to get into another series of dialogues that will drain the faith". Well chaplain looked at all of us as if we were a bunch of people sitting there who have lost their mind. Well, to cut him off I kept the conversation short and thanked God he didn't linger long. When we were alone in that room, we prayed, we believed, we confessed that all the promises that Lord has given are going to come to pass. Another thing we did was we wanted to hear from God. I shared what Lord was saying and I asked my sister, "Is Lord revealing anything". She prayed and got the word from the Lord and we did everything that Lord had asked us to do.

Well the fact was that there is no chance of my dad's survival and truth was that he was going to survive no matter what. And we knew that it was the time we can't afford to lose our faith. For time after time Jesus had scolded people because of their unbelief.

Here are few conversations Jesus had with his desciples.

Mat 8:26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Mat 16:8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"
Mat 17:20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Well, so we guarded our faith vigorously. And we saw those facts that looked impossible to move did move. For there is nothing impossible with God.

Do you see facts in your life that seems impossible to move? Do you see situations that are very hard? Look to Jesus with faith and He will move those mountains. He will make those impossible situations into possible ones. He will turn things around.

Standing in the Gap - Fasting prayer on 9th May 2006

 
As the Bible says in Ezekiel 22:30 "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it." And also the Bible says in Numbers 16:48, "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." We have fasting prayer every second Tuesday of each month. Our next fasting prayer meeting will be conducted on 9th May. 2006

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