06/27/2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️. God Is A God Of PURPOSE. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
God will use people you don’t approve of because God is a God of PURPOSE Not PETTY!
💐💐💐💐 The 🌺Story of 🌺 Rahab 💐💐💐💐
The Bible calls her Rahab the pr******te because that was her defining trait. The Bible talks about Rahab’s faith. How did Rahab show faith? Let’s imagine it together. For years, the people of Jericho had existed behind their thick walls. None of their neighboring countries had been able to pe*****te their walls and so they felt safe. Then they heard about the Israelites.
For forty years, the children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness without a home. There were whispers that they had been promised the land of Canaan. Still, the people of Jericho may have felt as if they could hide behind their walls. Then they heard about the kings of Sihon and Og who were obliterated in battle (Numbers 21:21-26, 32-35). Miraculous stories trickled into town about the way the Hebrew God had dried up the Red Sea. Years earlier, He had delivered His people from slavery in Egypt. It must have been an interesting time to be alive because though there would have been fear, a lot of persons would have stubbornly stuck to their old ways. But not Rahab.
By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace (Hebrews 11:31 NKJV). It took a lot of faith to acknowledge that the Hebrew God was greater than any of the gods of Jericho. When your city has fortified walls, it’s easy to believe your city is impenetrable. But Rahab believed in the power of the Hebrew God, all she had heard were stories but she believed He was powerful enough to deliver Jericho into the hands of His people. “I know that the Lord has given you this land 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” (Joshua 2:9 NIV). We often think it takes a lot of courage to be brave but the best definition of bravery is doing what needs to be done, not because you don’t have any fear but in spite of it. It took a lot of courage to defy a king. Rahab was a pr******te. She wasn’t a woman in the highest echelons of society, yet she was willing to risk her life for what she believed. How many persons would have thought to hide someone under stalks of flax (Joshua 2:6)? Rahab was a creative problem solver. The story of Rahab and the spies would have been very different if she hadn’t been a quick thinker. Would the king’s men have found the spies if they had decided to search the house? I’ve always wondered, but I think Rahab had enough flax to completely cover the two Israelite spies. If you’ve ever had to deliver a speech before an unknown audience you understand how much nerve it takes to speak up for what you want. Rahab the pr******te knew her only chance for survival was to ask the spies to protect her. She asked for what she wanted knowing the Hebrew spies had no reason to give it to her. By her own admission, the Hebrew God had already given the Israelites the city of Jericho. Even without her intervention, their victory was sure. Still, she boldly asked them to spare her life. She pleaded for the lives of her family. One of the things I love most about Rahab is how considerate she was. When she was bargaining with the spies for her life, she wasn’t selfish about it. She also bargained for her family. We don’t know how many persons were in her family, but I loved the fact that she thought of them all. One of Rahab’s greatest characteristic was that she didn’t only think about saving herself, she also had compassion for her father’s household and made plans to save them as well. What did it take to convince her entire family they would be better off living in a wh******se? Forgive my blunt language but when it all boiled down to it, that was the choice Rahab’s family had to make. Take the word of a pr******te and spend an indeterminate time living in her house waiting for the Israelites to attack. Or remain where they were and trust in the security of the city walls and the strength of their army. To save her family’s lives, Rahab managed to convince her whole family two things. That danger was imminent to move into the home of a harlot in order to save their lives. The story of Rahab is about one woman’s courage and her actions that saved her entire family. But more than anything, Rahab’s story is about a woman whose ways pleased the Lord. The story of Rahab is one about faith. The Bible tells us that we can’t please God without faith.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV). She chose to believe in the God of the Hebrews over the gods of her own people. She chose an unknown God because she believed He was greater than all that she had known. Rahab chose to have faith that God existed and that He was faithful to deliver the land He had promised to His people.
Finally, Rahab believed that God would reward her for helping the two spies, her, Rahab the pr******te. She trusted that God would see beyond what everyone else saw and choose to save her over all the people in Jericho. Not only that, but this unknown God would save her family as well so she wouldn’t live the rest of her life mourning them. Did she expect that she would one day be the ancestor of Christ? I doubt it. But she knew that she needed to trust God at that moment and so she did. My friend, you can be like Rahab the pr******te, you can choose to live a life that pleases God. You can choose to have the faith of Rahab.
