Rahab’s Heart….

In the lineage of Jesus mentioned in the gospels, there are 5 women mentioned: Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Of the five women, Rehab was an enemy of the Israelites. She was a prostitute. All these women had tainted pasts, but Rehab had an understanding of God unlike all the rest. She knew about Him, and feared Him reverently. Her fear of Him caused her to hide the spies, and lie about their whereabouts. Her sincerity, that came from a heart willing to acknowledge God, made her do right in a time where she could’ve continued to do wrong. It eventually saved her and her family. Does God care about our behavior? Yes. But He knows our weaknesses and our fallibilities. He’s more concerned about the condition of our hearts, that honesty that resides inside our souls that when push comes to shove, rises up and embraces truth at all costs. Rehab had this quality, and it it this quality that God desires in all of us. This quality gives us the ability to act on what we know to be true. It’s what God looks for when He extends His grace to us through the work of Christ on the cross. Our view of God matters. It matters more than our view of ourselves. For its not until we can properly view God in the truth, that we come to know ourselves. Rehab’s past did not affect her future. It just goes to show us that man’s problems are not material, they are spiritual. And God can rescue man from his spiritual problem in a heartbeat, because sin and disobedience is a heart problem. No matter what your past looks like, you’re never out of reach from God’s redemptive hand. Rehab’s story is a great reminder of this. Proof of her significance can be found in Matthew chapter one; she’s mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. It’s all about our honest response to God and His truth, and it starts with the heart; the part of us God is concerned with the most. Our attitudes matter, ask God to refocus yours today.

8 Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. 9 “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. 10 For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. 11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.12 “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that 13 when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”14 “We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.”15 Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window. 16 “Escape to the hill country,” she told them. “Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.” Joshua 2:8-16