What does your past whisper to you? Or, if you are like me, what does it scream at you? Shame, regret, condemnation, disqualification? Yup. Where these screams from choices you made yesterday or years? Does it matter? I have stuff that keeps coming to mind from years ago that seems to hang on and not let go. Let’s face it… we have all done the stupid stuff… We all have a past. So many mistakes and things in my past I wouldn’t want to share with anyone. Some of them I can’t hide. You can’t hide the fact you are a pregnant teen… it tends to show just a little bit. Know what I mean? My focus has been on studying the women in the Bible… Remember Esther and Deborah? This time let’s turn our focus to one of the bad girls of the Bible. Rahab. She was a prostitute. She can’t hide from her past… but it doesn’t define her. And the most amazing thing… God called her a heroine of the faith. Salmon was good with it, he married her. And she is in Jesus’ family tree. She wasn’t even an Israelite! Can you imagine… can’t you hear all the gossip going on now?
This heroine of faith is full of courage, peace, and grace. #goals Her story starts just as dramatic as any of the drama mamas would want. The beginning of the story goes back to the Israelites being slaves. God freed them using three siblings but they refused to go to the promised land. Why? Because it was going to be too hard, too much work… too many things that MIGHT go wrong… It wasn’t worth it. They were lazy.
Proverbs 13:4
“The soul of the lazy man desires, and has nothing;
but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”
So they went in circles in the desert until that generation died. How sad is that? Can you imagine thinking your parents didn’t think your spiritual, physical, and mental well-being wasn’t worth the fight for change? There is no doubt I was not/am not the perfect mom/wife. However, I will say… my kids can say that they have seen me fight for change to be the woman God wanted me to be for them to have a better future. Perfection is a goal I will not achieve… nor am I capable of, but I will still shoot for the stars.
Anywho… back to this bad girl story… Once the unbelieving believers died off, Joshua became the captain of the group. He decided it was time to move forward and claim what God had for him. It’ about time don’t you think?! He sends two spies into Jericho… it was the first place they were to conquer. These guys go into Jericho and start asking questions and end up at this prostitute’s house. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat would be flooded with pics and so many lies! Word got around and the King was like “nope, find them and kill them”. She told the spies to lay under stalks of flax drying on her roof. EWWW! How gross that must have been. Well, you know it was that or get caught, so this was the way to go. The part I love most about this story is that she is so confident. She lied. She was good at it. She was at peace and nonchalantly just talked to these soldiers like it was no big deal. Mic drop. Not sure I would be able to do it. Let’s just say I would probably be wetting myself with fear. She told the soldiers “yep they were here but they left”. Then she goes to talk to the spies... let’s go sit under the starry night sky and have a listen to the convo. Do you feel the warm spring breeze? Do you see the river sparkling in the moonlight just waiting for someone to go fishing… I’d be fishing… just say’n.
Joshua 2:8-13:
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them,
“I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.
When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.
Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.
She just says to them “I know what’s what… God is giving you this land”. Let me ask you something? Because as a Canaanite prostitute… how could she know something about the one true living God? The only explanation is that God himself was speaking to her. Do you ever doubt you can hear God? I mean, there are times I have conversations with myself. Sometimes I realize it’s God, other times not so much and He has to use a 2X4 and knock me up side the head and say “It’s me!” Probably using a megaphone hoping that I finally listen. She tells them “Your God is God”. Period. End of Story. No more questions. Why do we have such an issue with believing and trusting that God will take care of us? Where’s my faith, trust, and belief. On a side note, let’s think about her family for a sec. There are friends of mine that have family members that no longer speak to them because of politics. I cannot imagine and no understanding of how that can happen. How can one's political beliefs be stronger than the love of a sibling? How do you think Rahab’s family responded to what she had done? Would they approve or abandon her? It would not exactly have been the culturally appropriate thing to do at that time. And we all know how important it is to be politically correct these days. (sarcasm in case you missed it).
So much to this story that speaks of God’s mercy, grace, and strength… You know what comes next… seven priests, seven days and seven times around the city. Marching WITHOUT SPEAKING. You know how many times I have been told I must speak; I need to take a stand. And it is true, we have to speak but only at the right time. When He says to speak. God had a time for these people to keep their ever-loving mouths shut! There will be a time for me to speak out. There is an appointed time for the walls to fall… they will be a ramp into the city. They will be your way out of everything keeping you trapped. My spirit just leaps thinking that God has prepared the way… He never loses the battle and never wastes the battle. And He protects those that are called… like Rahab and her family. When those walls fell, Rahab and her entire family were left standing. The. Only. Ones. If you haven’t heard Jericho by Andrew Ripp, you need to hear it. You’re welcome.
Rahab looked at her city going up in flames. Why did she ever choose to side these strange people? Why? She had slowly begun to trust in things unseen; Maybe she was thinking “there is somebody up there who could change my life’s course… no matter what or how I have been…” Why can’t we think like that? Why are we so hard on ourselves? Did you know she was only one of two women in the Hall of Fame for Heroes of Faith? It was her and Sarah. #girlpower And in James, it says that Rahab is righteous for her actions in protecting the spies. Huh… a prostitute that is righteous. Imagine that. Her faith led to action. And the rest of the story (said in my best Paul Harvey voice), Matthew mentioned her as a great grandmother in the lineage of Jesus Christ. It’s amazing, God had chosen her for the most honorable of things that could happen to a woman!
So let’s think about Jesus’ family tree… I mean some bad girls are in his family tree. Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba… so much to unpack but for another blog. Does this shock you? You know it’s designed by God right? He wants you to know that you are His beloved. It isn’t who you WERE that matters to God, it is who you ARE, in Him. Are you changing? Growing? Or are you like the Israelites listed above in the desert that said “it’s too much work”. Let me tell you something, what it means to me… my walls are coming down, I am taking a step of faith and God will use me just as I am with all my imperfections and flaws. If a prostitute can be righteous then surely I can be righteous and you can be righteous. I’m gonna be like Rahab and toss out the scarlet cord and say “God have your way, I want the walls to come down! Move by your Spirit!”
Here’s the discussion question: Ask yourself:
Is my faith leading me to action?
Do I trust God with all that I am to move me out of this mess?
Do I just want the mess blessed or do I want to move out of it?
The goal is to quit wandering in a desert and help the other bad girls that want to move forward in their lives but don’t know how.
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