Faith Shatters Walls
When the Israelites entered the promised land, there was a walled city standing in their
way, the city of Jericho. 1 The Israelites were not equipped to besiege a city. But surely
God had a plan; He had brought them here! He told Joshua to march the entire army
around Jericho daily for seven days. On the seventh day, they were to march around
seven times and then blow their trumpets and yell. The walls would fall down, and the
Israelites could storm in.
Joshua 2-6 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua+2-6&version=NIV
Joshua apparently believed that the Lord would make the walls of Jericho fall. Walking
around them each day didn’t make any sense. No one makes a city collapse by walking
around it. To the human eye, God had given them an impossible task and an
unreasonable method to achieve it. But Joshua believed.
Joshua couldn’t take Jericho by himself. God’s instructions were clear: the whole army
must march together. It’s doubtful many of them believed the walls would fall this way,
but they obeyed! Am I willing to “go out on a limb” to obey God? Would I have walked
around Jericho? The Israelites’ faith in the Lord God Almighty had to be great, just like
Wycliffe’s founder Uncle Cam’s faith was.
In 1945, Wycliffe first entered Peru to begin Bible Translation. Wycliffe’s founder, Cam
Townsend, explained their plan to government official José Jiménez Borja. 2
Borja asked if Cam had the translators to do the work. “No, but God will provide them,”
was Cam’s reply. Borja asked if Cam had the pilots or the airplanes to get translators
into remote places. “No, but God will provide them.” Borja asked if Cam had the funding.
“No, but God will provide it.”
Borja acquiesced to Cam’s impossible plan: “If you come back with all of these things,
you have my blessing.” As Cam left, Borja told his secretary: “There goes the craziest
gringo 3 I’ve ever seen!” Only a few months later, Cam was back with translators, pilots,
and funding, ready to start!
God has already shown us in Scripture that every nation, tribe, people, and language
will be represented in heaven. 4 But walls stand in the way: language barriers. God has
also provided a plan to tear down these walls so that people from every language may
be added to His kingdom. Wycliffe plans to have a Bible translation project started for
every language that still needs one by 2025. 5
Translators cannot do this alone. God’s instructions are clear: the whole Church must
march together. God has called Vicki and me to Bible Translation, and we are asking
you to march with us. He has given us an unreasonable goal of having a full partnership
team in place by January – unreasonable to the human eye. It is actually more
unreasonable to think that God would lead us here and not make the walls fall! It is
unreasonable not to believe that God will do the impossible. He already split the Red
Sea and the Jordan River for the Israelites, and then He shattered the walls of Jericho.
God has already worked miracles in our family, and if we are faithful, He will continue.
His plans are always bigger and better.
Will you march with us? www.wycliffe.org/partner/noahvickismith
1 Jericho was perhaps the oldest city in Canaan and the first walled city.
2 the Minister of Education’s assistant.
3 foreigner
4 Revelation 7:9
5 https://www.wycliffe.org/about Wycliffe is against compromising the integrity of the Scriptures in order to
accomplish this goal. See also a similar inspiring goal at https://eten.bible/
