Spiritual Walls

Walls are a good thing: they define boundaries in space. But imagine a wall going through the middle of your kitchen that was made out of bricks. It simply wouldn't make sense? and would be an unnecessary boundary.

The Bible also tells the story of Joshua and the children of Israel. Some very big walls of Jericho separated God’s people from the Promised Land.  They had to conquer the city in order to move into the territory that God had promised generations before. So, in the most absurd battle plan, they marched around the city until the walls came tumbling down. Yet, there’s an overlooked peculiarity about Jericho’s walls. God wanted them to fall down and be destroyed- He didn’t want a gate to simply open.

John Paul Jackson pointed out that the walls of Jericho were made of some very alarming materials.  A variety of ancient Mideast cultures would sacrifice unborn babies and even children to the god Molech. They then would take the bodies, burn them, place them in a jar and build them into the city walls or the walls of their home with the hopes that it would bring prosperity. God knew the walls of Jericho could not stand, they had to be destroyed.

As sadistic as sacrificing babies to a god seems I’m sure most people participating weren’t doing it out of dislike for their child. They had a twisted view of god and were willing to hurt a part of themselves in an effort to please this god. In Jeremiah 19:5, God addresses this sacrifice as, “something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.”

The people had been deceived into building a wall of pain that the real God never wanted.
So my question is, what kind of walls surround your heart and what are the walls made of? Some walls are beneficial and establish respectful boundaries. Some walls are built on fear, mistrust, and pain. The sad part is that walls built in the wrong place with the wrong material can serve as a boundary between your heart and God’s.  The walls that we build out of protection really just become a barrier which keeps us from fully entering into God’s goodness. They can’t contain God, but they can contain us.

The Temple had a big red “veil” that was like a wall. It served as a divider between man and the presence of God; a presence so Holy that nothing unholy could enter into it and live to tell. When Jesus died on the cross, that veil was torn in two. As Jesus walked the earth, His name Emmanuel meant “God with us.” After the veil was torn, it made a way for God to be within us. And in case you didn’t know, it is God’s great pleasure. Living in you isn’t a chore or a burden for God, it’s a shared gift that He paid the highest price for.

Let that gift flood your heart, remove the wrong walls, and erect the right ones. There’s nothing to lose, only everything to gain.