REPROACH

Joshua 5:9 – And the Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the REPROACH of Egypt from you. So the name of this place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day.

God makes this declaration to the Israelites after the circumcision of the new generation and just before the battle at Jericho whereby the Israelites would victoriously march into the Promised Land. This same protocol is still used for God’s people today. Cut the flesh away (better known as dying to the flesh), then the reproach (or shame) will be rolled away, and finally you may march triumphantly into your promised land.

So often we come to God with our dreams and demands, yet we wonder why we are still living in bondage in Egypt. Why is our past still haunting us? Why do we still feel the shame and reproach and judgment of our past? God’s recipe for success must be followed in order to take hold of our promised lands.

Let me give you a more modern, personal example from my own life. I gave my life to Christ as a teenager allowing him to be the Savior of my life but not the Lord of my life (big difference between the two, by the way). For the next 20 years I proceeded to live as the captain of my own ship, the master of my own destiny. Twenty years of bad choices and wrong decisions heaped on mountains of shame and disgrace (reproach). I diligently went to church every Sunday, attended Bible studies, and clung earnestly to the promises in God’s word. Yet, things got worse instead of better. My guilt and bitterness over my past was still there, I still was walking in bondage in many areas, and I saw no hint of any Promised Land in my horizon.

This is the very place where many Christians find themselves …….. stuck, dry, and disheartened. The flesh has not been rolled away so there is no power for victory. Our chains are still intact, our enemies still have the upper hand. Christ must be the Savior AND Lord of our lives. He must be in control. We must surrender to Him in order to find His rest.

The miraculous march around Jericho is probably well known to most of us, but the prerequisites are ignored. We want the power, the victory, and the abundance, but not the cost. There is no victory without Jesus. There is no Promised Land without His presence. And there is no freedom without the power of his Holy Spirit rolling the reproach away.