“Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days.” –Joshua 6:3

When I have a problem in my life, it can look as big as Jericho. The walls may look formidable. In my waking moments, I find myself going around and around my dilemma.

God told Joshua to go around Jericho once every day(Joshua 6:3). I learned to discipline myself to go around my particular Jericho only once! True, there was an appropriate time for Joshua and his men to circumnavigate the city seven times(Joshua 6:4, 15), and there is an appropriate time for me to spend special effort in focused prayer about my difficulty. But I learned to wait for God to direct me into such a time.

The priests carried the Ark of the Lord representing the presence of Yahweh with his people. Each day as I…