When You Hit a Wall

When You Hit a Wall

What do you do when you hit a wall? Every believer eventually reaches a season when moving forward becomes difficult. You started with excitement and confidence, but somewhere in the middle, the journey became harder than you expected. Doubt begins to creep in, progress seems to slow down, and you start wondering whether you can keep going.

Israel faced a literal version of that struggle when they arrived at Jericho. God had promised them a land of their own, but standing between them and that promise was a fortified city with massive walls. What appeared to be an obstacle to God’s plan would actually become part of the testimony God was building.

The story of Jericho in Joshua 5 and Joshua 6 gives us a pattern for what to do when we hit a wall in our own lives.

Posture Yourself Before God

Before Joshua received a battle plan, he had an encounter with God. In Joshua 5:13-15, Joshua encountered the commander of the Lord’s army. His response was to fall facedown in reverence and listen.

Before Joshua knew what to do next, he surrendered. He did not begin with strategy. He began in the presence of God.

God often gives His direction only after we’ve assumed the posture of surrender.

When you hit a wall, your first response does not need to be figuring everything out. Make space to hear from God. Spend time reading Scripture, praying, worshiping, listening, and being still before Him. Instead of immediately asking how you can overcome the obstacle, ask what God wants to do in you and through you.

Choose Obedience Over Confidence in Yourself

God’s instructions for conquering Jericho were unusual. Israel was commanded to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to circle it seven times while priests carried trumpets. Then, at God’s command, the people were to shout.

From a human military perspective, this was a strange battle plan. Jericho was a fortified city, yet Israel’s victory would not come from trusting its own military strength. God was teaching His people to depend on Him.

The walls of Jericho represented an enormous obstacle. Yet the size of the wall did not change the power of the God who had brought Israel to it.

God’s way may not make sense, but it always makes a way.

There will be moments in your walk with Jesus when obedience does not seem logical. God may lead you toward a career change, generosity during a difficult financial season, forgiveness when you have been hurt, or another step of faith you do not completely understand.

When that happens, choose obedience to God over confidence in yourself. You do not have to understand everything God is doing before you obey what He has already told you to do.

Trust the Process When It Isn’t Exciting

Joshua’s encounter with God was exciting. The moment the walls of Jericho collapsed was exciting. But between the encounter and the breakthrough were days of simply walking.

That middle part matters.

There are seasons when following God feels powerful and exciting. There are other seasons when faithfulness simply means waking up and doing what God told you to do again. The beginning may be exciting and the breakthrough may be exciting, but spiritual maturity is often developed in the middle.

Trust the process, even when it isn’t exciting.

An encounter with God can give us something to hold onto during those seasons. When doubt comes, remember what God has spoken. Remember what He has already done. Keep obeying even when the emotion of the original moment has passed.

Trust God When Progress Seems Invisible

Imagine walking around Jericho for six days and seeing absolutely nothing happen. No visible cracks. No collapsing stones. No evidence that the plan was working.

It would have been easy to wonder whether anything was happening at all.

Sometimes following God feels the same way. You have prayed, served, obeyed, worshiped, and waited, but you still cannot see the results you hoped to see.

Invisible progress does not mean God is inactive.

Keep planting seeds of faith. Keep taking obedient steps toward Jesus. Keep praying for the prodigal son or daughter. Keep praying for the spouse who does not know Christ. Keep believing God to open the door you have prayed about for years. Keep showing up, and keep worshiping even when you cannot see progress.

Faith trusts that God is working even before there is visible evidence of the breakthrough.

Shout in Victory Before the Wall Falls

The climax of the story comes in Joshua 6:20. The trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and the wall collapsed.

Notice the order: the shout came before the wall fell.

That is faith.

Israel did not wait until the walls were on the ground before responding to God. They obeyed His command and shouted while the obstacle was still standing in front of them.

We often want to reverse that order. We want God to provide the breakthrough first, and then we will praise Him. But faith is willing to worship while the wall is still standing.

This same principle appears in Acts 16:25-26. Paul and Silas praised God while they were still imprisoned. Their worship came before the prison doors opened and before their chains fell off.

Praise comes before breakthrough.

Worship is more than our response after God answers a prayer. Praise is an expression of faith that declares who God is even when our circumstances have not changed.

Your Wall Can Become Your Testimony

When you hit a wall, it can be tempting to assume you missed God’s plan. Israel could have looked at Jericho and wondered why God had brought them to a place where moving forward seemed impossible. Yet the wall was not evidence that God had abandoned them.

The wall became the setting for God’s power to be displayed.

The same can be true in our lives. The obstacle standing in front of you today may eventually become part of the story you tell about God’s faithfulness. God does not lead His people to a wall and then abandon them there.

So when you hit a wall, posture yourself in surrender, choose obedience over confidence in yourself, trust God’s process when progress seems invisible, and praise Him before the breakthrough.

The wall may still be standing today. Keep walking. Keep obeying. Keep trusting. Keep worshiping. God is still at work.