Where Are They Now? a Sequel – REHAB for RAHAB
the heart of Biblical Greats
October 9th, 2021
Romans 8:3-4, ‘God went for the jugular when He sent His own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In His Son, Jesus, He personally took on the human condition, entered into the disorderly mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.’ (the MESSAGE)
Rehab for Rahab
Joshua 2:8-14, ‘Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, out hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” (NKJV)
She wasn’t looking for a change. Not in lifestyle, nor living, nor enterprise, or even interests. But suddenly there came knocking at her door these men, go figure, but there was immediately something she noticed that was different about them. They didn’t appear to be there for the ‘usual’ visits, and at once, she knew they must be hidden. Fear palpitated in her chest, forcing her heart to climb into her throat. It wasn’t long after they slunk into hiding that another urgent knock came at her door.
As it turned out, alas, it was men, again, not a surprise, but she knew instantly they were not that type of ‘visitor’ either. The mystery and intrigue were building as she answered them, turning her face off. She had heard of this Lord God and what He was accomplishing, but it meant devastation to those caught in a web of disbelief. Which might mean her and the entire household of her father’s. Hello! A lady of the night was feared, revered, needed, shunned, abandoned and most certainly, unwelcomed, in city circles and religious gatherings. Many emotions but not many favorable, yet she had been highly successful, and she really wasn’t seeking a change in her status quo.
Many interruptions on that night, however, were ticking like a time bomb in her brain. Rahab feels the corner she is being backed into just as she recognizes the window of opportunity being opened in front of her. She knows what she must do, and after sending the men on their way, directing where they should search, she inches her way to the hiding place on the roof. She is completely assured of her mission; she can use this for her benefit and for theirs.
What Rahab does not count on is the condition of her heart, nor the wonderment about this God she continues to hear so much about. When these spies for God look her in the eye and tell her she can rely on their word, and the Word of the Lord God she keeps hearing so much about, she knows she has hit paydirt. She never anticipates, however, the rehab beginning to take place inside of her as she negotiates on behalf of her father and his household. If they keep their word, she might just never be the same again.
John 3:16-17, ‘”For here is the way God loved the world—He gave His only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!”’ (TPT)
