Hebrews 11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. What is faith? Faith is the assurance of God's promises. She was persuaded by truth. She was assured that what she believed was true. Just as it is said of Abraham in Romans 4:20-21 - Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. She had dependence on God. She believed that God could provide for her what she needed; Salvation. It’s a question we all ask, "Can I really trust God?" In order to be a person of faith, you have to come to grips with that question.
Faith is a commitment. It’s not a onetime assumption, it’s a lifelong consistancy in following God.
People say, "I need to be more committed". The problem is not your commitment, it’s your faith. If you really believed, if you were really depending on God for all of your needs…you could not be anything else but committed! The question to ask is "What is keeping me from Believing?" It could be a lack of knowledge (Romans 10:17). It’s like the man who saw on television that there was a car driving the wrong direction down the interstate. He knew his wife was traveling that road so he called to warn her. “Honey, there is a car driving the wrong direction on the interstate” – she says “ONE CAR! NO THERE ARE HUNDREDS!” Some people just don’t realize they are going the wrong way. God’s Truth is revealed in His Word. It could be a lack of understanding. You’ve heard about faith, but you don’t understand what it means to be a believer.(2 Corinthians 5:17)
Joshua 2:1 brings us to the last stage of life in the desert for the Israelites. Moses led the people through the 40 years of wilderness wandering…a whole generation. His replacement…is Joshua. Joshua had trained under Moses most of his life and God told him to choose him as his successor. Moses Led the people out of Egypt, it was Joshua’s task to take the people into Canaan, the Promised land. But in order for the Israelites to gain access to the land they had been promised, they would need to fight for it. Jericho was a large city that was built inside these walls. Inside the wall were people’s houses and the roofs were flat and they could walk out onto the roof and peer either into the city or outside the walls. Rahab’s house was inside those walls.
Joshua 6:1-5 is the directions given by God on how the Israelites would defeat Jericho. And it happened just as he said, and in that wall was Rahab. Here house is part of the city wall. She is a "working girl" so to speak. She’s a member of a profession that profits from selling herself for money. But yet, right there in the middle of Hebrews 11, the faith hall of fame…is her name. I want to preface all this with the statement: "Nobody is perfect when they take their first step of faith." As a matter of fact…we’re really not perfect until we are at home in Heaven with Christ where there is no sin. So you might be surprised to see a prostitute in the same Hall of Fame as the likes of Abraham, Moses, and David. We don't see God tell Abraham to go Egypt, but basically God had promised to take care of him, but when faced with adversity (a drought) he took his wife to Egypt, where he knew there would be food. Even though David is considered the most faithful king of Israel, he committed adultery with another man’s wife and then had the husband murdered. What Abraham experienced, what David experienced, what Rahab experienced was God’s GRACE and forgiveness.
You see Rahab showed faith against insurmountable odds. She believed what God would do to the city. And she took a stand against her city in faith, by helping Joshua's spies, and garnering salvation. Max Lucado once said that one of the most difficult things he ever learned about God was when he had heard that Jeffrey Dauhmer, who was convicted of some of the most gruesome, heartless murders you could ever image, had made a commitment to follow Christ while he was in prison. We look at a person like that, and we WANT them to suffer. We WANT them to get what they deserve! Sometimes we as pompous Christians look at people like that and say "He’s going to have to answer for that some day"…and that’s true. But this all shows you the difference between GOD’s heart and our hearts! God has the power to carry out justice any way that he wants to, but when a person turns to him, no matter where they’ve been or what they’ve done, he accepts them and calls them HIS CHILDREN! And you know what he tells us to do? Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Forgive those who trespass against you in the same way I have forgiven your trespasses! It’s God that has a heart that big!
And do you know that this former prostitute came to faith, married a godly man named Salmon, gave birth to a son who became a Godly man named Boaz, who was the Grandfather of King David, from whose family line would come our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You see, it doesn't matter where you came from or what you've done. God can use you for mighty things, through Faith in Christ.
