Joshua 6:1: “Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.” In our profession, we may find ourselves walled in just like the inhabitants of Jericho, not reaching out and not letting anyone come in to us. The fact remains that the people in our custody are noted for not being trustworthy. There is a familiarity of sort that comes from doing time with offenders, but it is the foolish officer that is not aware of them at all times. The awareness of their potential to strike out against us in many different ways, urges us to build walls. These walls are built for good reason, and they are high and thick. We build them as Noah Webster defines a wall as “a place of security, a fortified place.” A wall of distance is put up to protect ourselves from the inmates getting to us when they try to play on our emotions, compassion, pity, or anger.

At work, we find that the walls are a necessary security, a defense, a shield, or a way of selfdefense to us. However, often times these same walls remain up at home where the wall of distance allows us to mistrust those that are close to us. With our thick, tall, and solid walls in place, when a loved one reaches out toward us in comfort, we perceive their action as a threat. The walls of Jericho were obvious walls, they could be seen. Our walls are just as thick, tall, and solid. Sometimes we think our walls are invisible, but they are obvious to our family.

Some of the synonyms for walls are “a prison, a means of restraint, or a place of punishment.” The walls hinder us from reaching out to our loved ones and our loved ones are hindered from reaching in to us. It becomes a place of punishment not only for us, but also for those that we care for the most. We work in prisons and jails all day long, why would we want to live in one when we get home? Home should be a place where the walls come down; where we and our loved ones are free to come and go as we please.

Jesus Christ is the only wall we need. When we are surrounded by Him there truly is a refuge, a hiding place, and a means of escape. He is our defense, it is not a prison and there is no obstacle. Nothing stands in the way. The walls we build are built by doubt and mistrust. Trusting inmates is foolish, but we need to have a trust of God and a trust of our family, who are counting on us. Our loved ones need us as much as we need them, and they are counting on us. Joshua 6:20 says “the wall fell down flat”. The definition of flat is “level with the ground.” The children of Israel walked right in; there was no obstacle in the way. That is exactly where our walls need to be when it comes to God and family. There should be no obstacle; the walls need to be completely ground level. The Bible word flat comes from a word that means “humbled.” The walls were humbled. We do have to humble ourselves if our walls are going to come down. There was a mote around Jericho and when the wall fell down, it filled every crevice of it. Humility fills in all the spaces. The walls of Jericho came down by faith, according to Hebrews 11:30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.” The Bible says in Joshua 6:2, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.” Notice the verse says, “And the Lord said” and we see that the children of Israel believed what God said. It takes faith for our walls to fall. Sometimes, it doesn’t make any sense what God asks us to do, but we can trust His Word.