Testament Tuesday: Rahab

“A woman with a past whom God gave a future” –Francine Rivers

Today we get to take a look into the life of Rahab, the second book in, A Lineage of Grace. Taking place during the battle of Jericho, Rahab took a chance at creating a better future for herself and her family by following God and leaving behind her life as a prostitute. She put it all at risk in order to follow God.

Here is a little overview…Moses had just died and Joshua was now in charge. He sent two spies to the walled city of Jericho to scout it out. The spies ended up in the house of Rahab. Now word got out that these two spies were in the house of Rahab and the king of Jericho sent a message to Rahab to turn these men in, although she had other plans. She hid them and helped them safely escape Jericho and told the king they had already left. Before the spies had left, she made an oath with them. The oath was that they would spare her and her family in the destruction of Jericho. The spies agreed so long as she does not betray them and told her to leave a scarlet rope as a sign so that Jews would find and protect her. Then for seven days she waited as the Jewish armies marched around Jericho. On the seventh day, Joshua told the spies to keep their promise and brought Rahab and her family to safety.

You can find Rahab in the Bible in the book of Joshua 2:1-14, 6:15-25 and Hebrews 11:31

Even in a story written long ago, I find myself relating to Rahab more than I thought I would, I can’t wait to share with you, let’s dive in:

Most of us will never face an invading army as Rahab did, but we do face overwhelming situations of other kinds. What kinds of problems are you facing right now? What kind of choices do you have?

My husband and I are trying to choose a church where God wants us to be. We want to find one to call home and serve in. We get so overwhelmed with finding a church that sometimes we feel defeated and skip church a weekend and in turn feel empty. It is at that moment that Satan will take that opportunity to keep us from growing closer to God. With this new season in life of becoming parents and the busy atmosphere of military life, we want to be strong in our relationships with the Lord not at a place where Satan can keep us down.

Rahab and her family members were locked up inside her house within the walls of Jericho—waiting patiently for the promised rescue. In what ways are you locked up?

I see myself being locked up by discouragement. I convince myself that we will never fit into a church or that maybe I should just stay home at watch church online. I know God doesn’t want this for us, but those thoughts always seem to creep in. But seeing how faithful God was to rescue Rahab and her family, I know the Lord will take away my discouragement and help us choose a church to call home.

When your world is falling apart and things are not going as you planned, what do you do to try to regain control?

When things fall apart, I try to take control, I blame myself and wallow when instead I could be turning to God for help. When my son was in the NICU and his progress seemed slow, I started blamed myself a lot for not being able to keep him in long enough. He went through so much in the month he was in the hospital when he was born and I didn’t want that for my baby. When I didn’t get into the teaching program at WSU my first try, I was devastated. I cried and thought of everything I should have or could have done. Eventually, I turned around and gave these things to God. My little boy went home sooner than doctors were expecting him to and I eventually got into the teaching program with God’s timing. Giving God the control to let Him work things out for His good, not what I want has taken a lot of humbling prayer time with the Lord.

Who have you chosen to rescue you?

I choose Jesus! No matter how many times I have tried to rescue myself, the Lord always comes to my rescue and is there for me. I didn’t know God until I was a Sophomore in high school. He rescued me from making decisions that would have led me on a path of destruction and sorrow. It was the best decision I have ever made in my life.

Rahab’s story is an amazing story of having faith and patience in the Lord. From the get go she allowed God to work through her situation and He was faithful to save her and her family. Wow. What a gracious God we have!

What has reading about Rahab shown you about your life? We’d love for you to share!

Blessings,