Quiet! Victory In Progress!

“…Fools are destroyed by their own words.” Ecclesiastes 10:12 

There is an unusual scripture found in Joshua 6 where God assured the Israelites that their victory was inevitable. Thousands of Israelites were commanded to march around the walls of Jericho. But then comes this extraordinary restriction that Joshua puts on them. Joshua said, “As you march for the next seven days, don’t speak a word. Don’t let a word come out of your mouth. Don’t talk. I command you to keep silent.”

You see, Joshua understood two things. He understood that God had surely promised victory in the lives of His people. But he also understood that there was a natural inclination for His people to talk themselves out of the victory that was certain to unfold in their lives. Joshua had seen this happen before, forty years earlier. In Numbers 13, the spies came back, and they said, “There are giants, and we’re not able to take the land. We’re as grasshoppers in their sight.” Because of this mindset, the victory was delayed. “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt. If only we had died in the wilderness.’ And they said one to another, ‘Let us return to Egypt.’”

When there is delay or no evidence of change, there is a natural inclination to start speaking words of defeat. Joshua understood the principle found in Proverbs 18, “The power of death and life are in our tongue,” and he gave this unusual instruction to remain silent because he thought, “If I don’t, I know what they will do. They will begin to murmur, speak negatively, and eventually talk themselves out of the victory that God has planned.”

Joshua watched people who were right on the verge of receiving the greatest victory God had ever given talk themselves out of the blessing. He had witnessed it happen before, and he wasn’t going to let it happen again, so he told them to zip their lips! He was not going to risk missing the blessing because of complaining and negativity.

If God has told you that He’s unfolding a victory, all He needs you to do is march and be quiet! Maybe you have a problem and are not seeing progress. The worst thing you can do is open up your mouth and begin to talk doubt, negativity, unbelief, and fear. Don’t speak things that are opposite of God’s Word. Just keep marching on and be quiet. There’s a victory in progress.

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