There are times in my life, and maybe in yours, that God used who I thought was an unbeliever or “a just not yet believer” to guide me back to God’s truth. When I am hit with life stuff that is significant and I don’t know what to do I turn to God in prayer. God always answers but not always in the way I think He will. God has a way of getting our attention when we need it most, or rather we need Him most! God will sometimes use the least likely in our human estimation to help us if we pay attention to what God is doing in all people who come into our bubbles of believing, trusting and obeying.
“Only two women are personally named in Hebrews 11, “The Hall of Fame of Faith”: Sarah, the wife of Abraham (Hebrews 11:11), and Rahab, the harlot of Jericho (Hebrews 11:31). Humanly speaking, Sarah and Rahab had nothing in common. But from the divine viewpoint, Sarah and Rahab shared the most important thing in life: They both had exercised saving faith in the true and living God. Review the genealogy in Matthew 1 to see the variety of men and women that God used to accomplish through Christ His redemption program to save the lost.” –Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible
Joshua 2
Rahab
Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: “Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho.” They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “We’ve just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They’re from the People of Israel.”
3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They’re spies; they’ve come to spy out the whole country.”
4-7 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they’d come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!” (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men gave chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.
8-11 Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof and said, “I know that God has given you the land. We’re all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below.
12-13 “Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”
14 “Our lives for yours!” said the men. “But don’t tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we’ll do right by you in loyal mercy.”
15-16 She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside. She told them, “Run for the hills so your pursuers won’t find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way.”
17-20 The men told her, “In order to keep this oath you made us swear, here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it’s his own fault—we aren’t responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it’s our fault. But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we’re no longer responsible.”
21 She said, “If that’s what you say, that’s the way it is,” and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window.
22 They headed for the hills and stayed there for three days until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers had looked high and low but found nothing.
23-24 The men headed back. They came down out of the hills, crossed the river, and returned to Joshua son of Nun and reported all their experiences. They told Joshua, “Yes! God has given the whole country to us. Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us.”
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
SURPRISING EVIDENT FAITH
Rahab’s faith was conspicuous, and she demonstrated it by receiving the spies and risking her life to protect them. James saw her actions as proof that she was truly a believer (James 2:25). Her faith wasn’t hidden; the spies could tell that she was indeed a believer. The spies knew God so they knew God would protect them as the surveyed the land of Jerico. Do you think they were surprised by the help from Rahab?
Are we surprised when who we think is an unbeliever talks to us about the God we say we love and serve—and encourages us with the same words we speak? With God nothing is impossible and to God everyone is valuable. God loves everyone in the world for God created all and is in all. It is up to us to recognize Him in all people for there is no one He has created that He does not love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
What is faith? True saving faith isn’t just a feat of intellectual gymnastics by which we convince ourselves that something is true that really isn’t true. Nor is it merely a stirring of the emotions that gives us a false sense of confidence that God will do what we feel He will do. Nor is it a courageous act of the will whereby we jump off the pinnacle of the temple and expect God to rescue us (Jesus—Matthew 4:5–7). True saving faith involves “the whole personality”: The mind is instructed, the emotions are stirred, and the will then acts in obedience to God. –Wiersbe Study Bible
We learn that the most important thing about Rahab was her faith. That’s the most important thing about any person, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Not everything that is called “faith” is real, true faith, the kind of faith that is described in the Bible. What kind of faith did Rahab have?
Rahab readily gave her confession of faith to the two spies sent by Joshua. This woman of faith in God was currently imprisoned in pagan idolatry! She believed in one God, not in the multitude of heathen gods. She believed He was a personal God (“your God”), who would work on behalf of those who trusted Him. She believed God who she trusted was not limited to one nation or one land, but was the God of heaven and earth. Rahab believed in a great and awesome God who could do anything!
Pause to humbly and prayerfully evaluate.
- How firm is my faith?
- Is my faith evident to all I relate to daily? What is the measure of love expressed?
- Do I judge people, assuming the worst, presuming I know what they are thinking; while I piously say and do things unbecoming to God?
- Do I worry needlessly—out loud—complaining to everyone in ways that slander the very promises of God?
- How seriously assured am I? Maybe it depends on where my Hope lies?
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
THE ROPE WAS ONLY THE SYMBOL OF HER FAITH
Please, don’t rush out to hang red ropes out your windows, print it on a t-shirt, or where it around our necks to promote faith, thinking that is what will save us!
Rahab and her family were saved by faith in the God of Israel and not by faith in the rope hanging out the window. The fact that she hung the rope from the window was proof that she had faith, just as the blood of the slain lamb put on the doorposts in Egypt proved that the Israelites believed God’s Word.
Faith is a personal relationship with the living God. Our faith in our God who sent us His Son, Jesus to save us. Our faith in His covenant (The Word of God) gives us our assurance. Many people today depend more on the symbols of God’s saving grace than on the salvation in and of itself. “I was baptized so I am saved” for example, is what many relay on for salvation without the repentance of sins to God in Jesus Name. The act nor the water has the power to save us—only Jesus! Participation in the Lord’s Table (the Eucharist, Communion) does not save us, either. This kind of faith-thinking is in vain. Dutifully performing all the tasks, in the name of religion only, is also in vain. Jesus reprimanded the teachers of The Law about this when He came as Messiah!
Rahab had faith in the Lord and in the covenant promises He had made through His servants. Because of her faith, God gave her wisdom and a plan to protect the spies Joshua sent. God is indeed wonderfully and powerfully amazing!
Lord,
I believe in You alone as the God of my salvation. I believe in you, dear Jesus, and I trust you. I believe in you, Holy Spirit, sent live in me. Yes, there is no one like You. You are God, the Three-in-One; and I am not. I give myself to you—heart, mind, and soul. Guide me with your agenda for today. I’m listening.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 