Women's Devo | July 2022
The Faith of Rahab
Joshua 2:1-21
The house of Rahab was a perfect place for the spies to stay because there was a constant flow of traffic. It was a public house and was common for people to come and go. The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “where are the men that entered your house? They have come to search out all the country.” Rahab took the spies, hid them on the roof, and said to the men, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land, we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, we heard of God’s faithfulness and our hearts did melt. For the Lord your God, He is God in Heaven above and in earth beneath. I pray since I have showed you kindness that you will also show kindness unto my father, my mother, my brethren, my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death.” The spies said, “when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou let us down by. Bring your father, your mother and their household unto thee.”
The scarlet thread would enable the Israeli army to identify Rahab’s house and spare her and her family. By faith Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. Rahab’s faith to believe in a God that she heard about and her willingness to surrender everything brought her victory. God had a plan for Rahab.
Having faith in God is not always easy but it is rewarding. Hebrews 11:6 states, “but without faith it is impossible to please God, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The Tony Evans Bible Commentary shares that, “You must operate by faith, even if you must do so alone and go against the accepted norms of the day. You must believe with expectation that God responds-regarding His will for your life-when you seek to please Him.”
Hebrews 11:31 states, “by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace.” Rahab, the lowest of the low, chose faith and was recognized alongside other heroes of faith like Abraham and Moses. This cannot be that someone so “unworthy” would be in the lineage of Jesus. Isaiah 55:8 states, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” He can forgive even the worst of sinners. God is a master at taking the unwanted, unheard, unloved, unworthy and calling them anointed, appointed and placing them in their God given Jeremiah 29:11 call for their life.
The Tony Evans Bible Commentary states, “if we’re honest, grace does not make sense to us because it does not reflect how people treat one another on earth. But God’s perspective is not our perspective. That’s why we need a divine translator. We need the Holy Spirit to enable us to have a heavenly perspective; we need the mind of Christ.”
May our daily prayer be for God to baptize us in His love for humanity and show others the same kindness and grace that He showed Rahab. May we also have faith to believe and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. May we remember that there is still a God in Israel that is in the saving business. Amen.
The house of Rahab was a perfect place for the spies to stay because there was a constant flow of traffic. It was a public house and was common for people to come and go. The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “where are the men that entered your house? They have come to search out all the country.” Rahab took the spies, hid them on the roof, and said to the men, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land, we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea, we heard of God’s faithfulness and our hearts did melt. For the Lord your God, He is God in Heaven above and in earth beneath. I pray since I have showed you kindness that you will also show kindness unto my father, my mother, my brethren, my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death.” The spies said, “when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou let us down by. Bring your father, your mother and their household unto thee.”
The scarlet thread would enable the Israeli army to identify Rahab’s house and spare her and her family. By faith Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. Rahab’s faith to believe in a God that she heard about and her willingness to surrender everything brought her victory. God had a plan for Rahab.
Having faith in God is not always easy but it is rewarding. Hebrews 11:6 states, “but without faith it is impossible to please God, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The Tony Evans Bible Commentary shares that, “You must operate by faith, even if you must do so alone and go against the accepted norms of the day. You must believe with expectation that God responds-regarding His will for your life-when you seek to please Him.”
Hebrews 11:31 states, “by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace.” Rahab, the lowest of the low, chose faith and was recognized alongside other heroes of faith like Abraham and Moses. This cannot be that someone so “unworthy” would be in the lineage of Jesus. Isaiah 55:8 states, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” He can forgive even the worst of sinners. God is a master at taking the unwanted, unheard, unloved, unworthy and calling them anointed, appointed and placing them in their God given Jeremiah 29:11 call for their life.
The Tony Evans Bible Commentary states, “if we’re honest, grace does not make sense to us because it does not reflect how people treat one another on earth. But God’s perspective is not our perspective. That’s why we need a divine translator. We need the Holy Spirit to enable us to have a heavenly perspective; we need the mind of Christ.”
May our daily prayer be for God to baptize us in His love for humanity and show others the same kindness and grace that He showed Rahab. May we also have faith to believe and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. May we remember that there is still a God in Israel that is in the saving business. Amen.
Kathy Fussell serves alongside her husband, Glen, as Senior Pastors of Harvest Time Church of God in Douglas, Georgia. They have been in ministry 38 years and pastoral ministry 26 years. The Fussell's have two children: daughter Jana, and a son, Adam married to daughter-in-law, Whitney, and granddaughter Mattie.
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