Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 4
God’s plan for Jericho begins with a promise (“I will deliver Jericho into your hand”) but still requires Israel to surround the city and follow a process; how does this combination of divine sovereignty and human participation confront common evangelical instincts either toward passivity (“God will do it”) or control (“we’ll engineer the win”)?
Another way to ask: God promises Jericho will be theirs, but Israel still has to follow steps—how do you hold both together? How does this correct the extremes of “God will do it all” versus “we can make it happen”?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker presents God’s promise as certain victory that still demands active, obedient participation, correcting both passivity and self-reliant control. God “gives the city,” yet Israel must follow his process rather than doing nothing or inventing a better strategy.
- Step one is God’s promise: “I will deliver Jericho into your hand… Just gives him a promise right off the start. You’re going to win.”
- Yet the speaker stresses involvement: “Surround the city… This is still your battle. You’re going to get involved. God’s not going to do it all for you.”
- The plan is God-designed, not engineered by Joshua: the “chief captain… showed up… [and] handed it to him.”
- Joshua’s success is tied to submission, not control: he “didn’t try to argue or redesign the plan… He just did exactly what the Lord told him to do.”
- The teacher links modern defeat to trying “our own battle plan” or adopting “a more popular plan.”