Today at church, the sermon was based off of the story of Rahab (the prostitute). For many of us, we have heard this story, but I was challenged today to take a deeper look into the true meaning of this story. Why a prostitute? What was the history behind the story? Who was impacted? What was the lesson to be learned, the sprinkle on the ice cream to take away? The importance of women in such a time?
Every story within the bible grants us wisdom, provides encouragement, and allows us to take a closer look at where our heart is in relation to God’s. This story has so many sprinkles to take away, you may need five scoops of ice cream, just to get past the WILDLY RECKING LOVE that God shows Rahab through a process called redemption. You see, Rahab was a prostitute outside the walls of the city of Jericho. (This is where we all remember the famous bible song about Joshua and how the walls came tumbling down). Jericho was a place where the Israelites had traveled to, hoping to gain land, and began to spy on the people, seeing if they were living as God intended for them. The king of Jericho had directed Rahab to welcome the spies into her house, outside the city walls and then turn them over to the king in an act of obedience. But, Rahab had another plan in mind! This may have been the first lie of…”They went that way” ever recorded in history.
So Rahab hid the Israelite spies and “directed” the Jericho officials in the opposite way. She then makes a boldly beautiful speech to the spies of Israel reciting her devotion to Yahweh; listen to her words:
“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 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. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] 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.[b] When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. (Joshua 2:8-11)
She then continues to make a deal with the spies, spearing her and her families life for the kindness she has shown them. They swear their lives for hers and promise to spare her and her family. So after tying a scarlet chord on her door and taking all of her family into her house, she directed the spies into the hills where they would be safe and after 3 days they returned to a demolished city. The Lord’s people gained the land He has promised them after marching around the city and claiming it as their own at the fall, and Rahab was safe from harm.
Rahab, labeled forever a prostitute by the world’s standard, was bold, brave, and fearless while harboring God’s people against a city she had lived for most of her adult life. She knew who God was and she knew He was going to win. Her life was not perfect and her past was not erased, but her label in God’s eyes was “His”.
Rahab was…
REDEEMED
SAVED
RESCUED
HONORED
PRAISED
GOD’s
..all because we have a God who uses those with messy pasts, who is not afraid to be WILD in our lives to help mess up our mess until we allow Him to call it His masterpiece, and because He keeps His promises. The Israelites gained their land they were promised and Rahab was saved and marked as A FAITHFUL ONE in God’s book. The world may still call her a prostitute but God has labeled her HIS! God was the WILD one in her life and the lives of many in the bible, being the wind, water, fire, rain, and whisper when He knew was best.
We will all have labels in life. We have to learn that labels do not define us because we have been called, redeemed, and won over by the blood of Jesus. As we lean into who He is, our label slowly gets shredded. He will call you out of your comfort zone but through it, He will be with you. He will give you a new label, using who you once were to further reflect how capable He is. We serve a loving God, a powerful God, a sovereign God, a feared God, and a WILD God. His labels go on and on, but His character is the one we should be striving for. He uses those with the messiest pasts to make the greatest impacts. He sees past the labels to who we are in Him and He will fight tooth and nail until you see it to!
We serve a WILD God, a God who is not afraid to take out our pasts and redeem them, whatever means necessary.
A beautifully WILD God wants to reck your heart more and more for Him. He wants to reck my heart more and more for Him, but the most beautiful thing about a wrecking is that just as He demolished Jericho completely, so will He demolish your past and your labels. Time it will take, but He is a WILD God and when you all Him to be your source of comfort, just as Rahab did, He rewards and crowns will make the world’s look like dust particles in comparison.
You have a story to be used. A story to be redeemed. A story to be wrecked by The WILD ONE!
-V
