Storyline: Rahab

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. Hebrews 11:30-31.

We now turn to an unlikely woman of faith. Every time Rahab is mentioned in the Scriptures, the word prostitute is used to identify her. However, Rahab is also the only woman mentioned in the Hebrews passage that we refer to as God’s Hall of Faith (her complete story is told in Joshua 2 and 4). Rahab’s portrait hangs next to some prominent folk: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses... Her story is always told in connection with the battle of Jericho, where the walls “came-a tumbling down.” Rahab’s life was spared because she gave safe haven to Joshua’s spies. What can we learn from her?

First, Rahab’s story reminds me that no one is beyond the long arm of God’s reach. We don’t know her story. We read nothing of what happened to bring her to the place of prostitution, but I know one thing: No one grows up hoping to become one. I, thankfully, don’t hear any of my little grand-daughters’ saying, “I sure hope one day I’ll be a pretty prostitute.” They do, however, want to be Cinderella. When we’re little we all want to be beautiful princesses and marry the handsome prince, living happily ever after. Rahab had a happy ever-after-ending, but she didn’t have a great beginning. My job reminds me that desperation typically brings a woman to the place Rahab found herself when the spies stayed in her home.

Now, don’t think that the spies were looking for something other than information about the city. Rahab lived “on the city wall.” The wall housed the hub of activity in every ancient city. We can speculate how Rahab got such a prominent home, but all we really know is that her house was open for the multiple businesses that kept her surviving: a bed and breakfast, a flax business, and her other business. Rahab’s home was simply a convenient location for gathering information.

Every good story has a problem. Rahab had a big one. Looking out over the wall across the river, she could see the Israelites on the move. They were almost on her doorstep. The stories about them had tumbled down over the years from one generation to the next. Rahab believed them. She’d heard about their God – about what he had done for them at the Red Sea. She knew how he’d provided and cared for them over the 40 years of caravanning through the wilderness. She was no dumb woman. She understood they were coming back to take their land – the same land that Abraham had been promised. If that unseen God could obliterate the army of the great Pharaoh, what would he do in her little community? Rahab believed in a BIG GOD.

That belief gave her courage and conviction, and the hope that her life could be saved. Here is the baton of faith I believe she desires to pass on to us:

If God is small, I will always fear people. That will lead to approval addiction, and people pleasing. But, when God is big – nothing matters but pleasing him. My identity will be connected to my God (even if at one time I was a prostitute).

If God is small, I will always be the center of my universe. But, when God is big, others become more important and my life becomes one of service.

If God is small, I will always try to seek my agenda for life, to manipulate things to make them what I want them to be like. But, when God is big, I will walk in his ways – for his ways are always right (Hos 14:7), and I will find fulfillment, peace and joy.

It’s your turn. You make application: If God is small, I will _________________________ (you fill in the blank); but, when God is big, I will _____________________.