You’re behind enemy lines and coming dangerously close to being found. There is no outrunning the enemy, there is no outfighting the enemy, there’s no escaping the enemy, and the pressure is steadily building. Desperation sets in quickly! There is one option left, by uttering a fast prayer, there is outfoxing the enemy! When all else fails, try prayer!
The scenario you have envisioned is not a Hollywood scrip undergoing final revision, it’s not a sci-fi short story by a master wordsmith, it’s not an almost true story of a prisoner caught up in World War 1 in France, it’s not the Twilight Zone—this is real and death is at the doorstep knocking. What it is, is a true story straight from the Greatest Story ever told. It’s a story straight from the Bible that makes you think, why television doesn’t use more of these stories and less manufactured garbage from hallucinogenic egos.
You interested in detail? Chapter and verse? Go to the Old Testament, find the Book of Joshua, find chapter two, grab a snack and a cup of coffee and settle in for a thrill a minute. Best of all, there are no commercials interrupting.
The Exodus had recently happened. The nation sent out spies to size up the land God had promised. While scoping out their options, two of the spies were hiding in the city of Jericho, in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. Rehab’s house was in an ideal location for a quick escape because it was built into the city wall. God directed the spies to Rehab’s house because he knew her heart was open to him and that she would be instrumental in the Israelite victory over Jericho. As for her lying to the troops, God will use people with simple faith to accomplish his great purposes, regardless of their past. When the king of Jericho was told of the spies, he looked to Rahab to rat them out. Rahab told him, they had already left the city, when in fact she hid them on the roof under piles of flax. But the heart of this story is the kindness showed by her toward them. She would save them if they would do something for her. When they came into the land that God had promised, they must let her family live. The agreement was struck. Everyone lived to see another day.
God works through people—like Rahab—whom we are inclined to reject. God remembers her because of her faith, not her profession. At times we all feel like failures, when this happens remember that Rahab rose above her situation through her trust in God. You can do the same!
What a happy ending. One beautiful doll saved the lives of two. Two later saved the lives of dozens. But the most beautiful part, Rahab knew the God of the Israelites could be trusted. Being a relative of Boaz made her a relative of King David, which made her a relative of Jesus! Dolls rock.
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” Hebrews 11:31
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