Joshua 6:19

Joshua was the military leader who succeeded Moses and led the Israelites into the Promised Land. Their first major battle was against Jericho, a heavily fortified city. God gave unusual instructions: march around the city walls in silence for six days, then on the seventh day shout — and the walls will fall. They obeyed, the walls collapsed, and Jericho was defeated. But God placed one condition on the victory: everything of value inside — silver, gold, bronze, and iron — was to be considered 'sacred,' set apart for God's treasury. The soldiers were not to pocket any of it. The firstfruits of that first conquest belonged entirely to God.

Lord, every good thing I have came from you first. Teach me to hold it loosely — my time, my money, my energy — and to give you the first and best, not the scraps at the end of the day. You deserve more than leftovers. Amen.

There's a logic to Jericho that's easy to miss: God did what no army could do — brought down a fortified city with marching and a shout — and then asked that the first spoils not go into anyone's pocket but His. The victory was undeniably His, so the valuables were undeniably His too. It wasn't a tax. It was an acknowledgment. And it was asked before anyone had a chance to rationalize keeping just a little bit. We don't fight walled cities anymore, but the principle lands somewhere real. What are the first fruits of your life right now? Your sharpest hours in the morning before the noise starts. The first paycheck from a job you prayed years to get. The first energy you have after a long stretch of depletion finally lifts. There's a quiet question embedded in this verse about what we do with our firsts — whether we instinctively hoard them, spend them on ourselves, or hold them loosely as belonging to something larger. Jericho's iron and gold ended up in God's treasury. What would that look like for you?