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“Uck! Uck!” 

My littlest daughter shouts this on repeat, arms stretched high, waiting for someone – me – to rescue her…

Of course, whenever she tells me that she is “uck” (translation: stuck), I pick her up. I set her free from whatever she thinks is holding her back. I help her to easily toddle off, knowing that she will soon get “uck”, once again.

Isn’t that just like God?

Yet, I know that my Naomi Hope will soon stop getting stuck in the same locations. 

• I know that one day she will build strength in her muscles and will be able to climb in and out of her car seat.

• I know that she will no longer be small enough to squeeze into frustratingly small places, while I am trying to have a coffee with other parents. (Farewell, little tykes car.)

• I know that she will become more aware of how she can move and where she can go.

There is a day coming, in which my daughter will no longer face her current challenges. 

And she won’t even remember these daily battles.

Wow.

She will simply go from being stuck, to unstuck.

Set totally free from her limitations.

Isn’t that just like God?

So, here it is: My soul feels totally and utterly stuck at the moment.

• I’m stuck in frustrating thought patterns.

• I’m stuck in negative emotions.

• I’m stuck in bad habits.

It is like there is a wall within me that needs to come down and I can’t seem to find the sledge hammer.

Every time I get stuck, God picks me up and gives me another chance.

But really, I want to stop getting stuck altogether.

I want the hammer now, please God.

A great mentor of mine told me that it’s a great idea to ask the Holy Spirit if there is one particular lie, one consistent way of thinking that I can name – and write down.

She then told me to ask God for the origin of this lie and a Bible verse to help me replace the negative cycle of thinking.

Once I have these, I can begin to pray for breakthroughs. Set myself on these prayers for 40 days.

The problem that I have is that I cannot seem to find that one particular lie. It’s like I have put some sort of mental or spiritual blocker up within. I can’t seem to “go there.”

And so I find myself thinking about a popular, old-testament, story from the Bible.

Joshua and Jericho.

Context: God set his people free from slavery in Egypt. He then promised their leader – Moses – that He would give them a promised land flowing with milk and honey.

After many years in the wilderness, marred with disobedience, Moses dies and then Joshua becomes the new Israelite leader. 

Joshua leads the Israelites to Jericho – one of the first cities in the promised land.

The Bible says:

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

Joshua 6: 2 – 3 NIV.

Jericho has not been conquered by the Israelities, at this point. Yet the Lord says “I have delivered it into your hands.”

The city, the king and the fighting men belong to Joshua, as soon as the Lord says it.

If the Lord has done something, then it’s merely a question of claiming what He has already done. Right?

For me, this screams volumes. 

Jesus died on the cross so that I can be set free from sin, shame, sickness and the enemy’s lies. I have an abundant and eternal life because of what Jesus did for me. He eradicated death. I don’t have to wait to get to heaven to experience abundant life. 

He’s already won my peace of mind…I just need to claim it.

So what should I do in order to step into this freedom?

First things first: March.

To “march” means: “Walk in a military manner with a regular measured tread.” (Oxford languages definition.)

• It’s not running.

• It’s not meandering.

• It’s not stop and start.

It’s just one foot in front of the other, to a regular rhythm. Orderly. Determined, decided steps. Round the whole city. 

And then there’s one, minor detail: Don’t just walk around the city once. Do this once a day, for six days! 

Six days the entire army would simply march around the walls of Jericho.

God basically tells them to go for a daily walk. 

The verse continues:

Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Joshua 2: 4 – 5, NIV.

Victory doesn’t appear visible until the seventh day.

And victory includes sounding trumpets and giving a loud shout, even before the walls come down.

What can a stuck woman gain from this story? There is no literal city for me to march around!

1. My victory is found in the word of God. What He says, is done. I just need to claim it for myself.

2. I need to build a daily “walking” habit. Some suggest that walking around Jericho only took half a mile. Which tells me it’s not the big, bold habits that break walls. It’s the consistent, daily, 15 – 20 minute habits that can suddenly cause momentum. 

Many of you will have read Atomic Habits by James Clear. He talks about  an ice cube and how if you heated an ice cube from 25 – 31 degrees you would not see it melt. Yet, if you kept heating the ice cube to 32 degrees, all of the sudden, all of that stored energy would cause the ice to melt. 

3. Victory can be celebrated before the walls come down. I need to believe that He has done all that is needed, and all that He possibly could do, to set me free.

The problem I have is that I don’t know which bit of the word I need to claim for myself.

Though I know that I am stuck, I do not know which verse or which specific pathway of thinking I need to change. 

If I re-wind back to the end of Joshua 5, I find these verses:

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

Joshua 5: 13 – 14, NIV.

Before Joshua even approached the walls of Jericho, He looked up and saw a commander of the army of the Lord. He received instruction at this point.

So my task is: Wait until the Lord appears.

Seek Him. Don’t try to get unstuck without Him.

Believe that He will give me the instruction that I need, when I need it.

Don’t start marching, until He tells me to.

I can ask Him for a message and I can trust that He will come and deliver me. If the battle is to be the Lords, I must do it in His timing.

And so, for all those who are stuck today, maybe it’s O.K if we just wait to be set free. Maybe the waiting will change us just as much as the release.

We cannot do this alone, but with God we absolutely can.

What does waiting on God look like for you?

Is it one session of worship music? Is it daily prayer? Reading your Bible – or a certain part of your Bible – over and over? Reading a book, or two?

Is it none of those things, or all of those things?

Is it just cracking on with chores and raising kids and sending up the occasional “Help, now” prayer?

As I enter this wait, please share your experiences of waiting on God and what they looked like for you.