The Courage of Rahabعينة

Faith That’s Demonstrated Is Remembered

What possessed Rahab to protect these men, to hide them under the four-foot stalks of wet flax she’d spread out to dry in neat rows on her roof? Obviously, this wise woman sensed an upheaval—spiritual and otherwise—about to sweep through Jericho. She reasoned things through and made the most important decision of her life.

After sending the king’s men on a wild goose chase, she went up on the roof and spoke the unvarnished truth to the spies: “You scare us silly!” Maybe she was more afraid of these two than all the king’s men. But not too afraid to save them or to speak to them plainly. How they must have admired her valor. She went on to explain how the citizens of Jericho had trembled at the news of the parting of the Red Sea and of the Israelites’ utter destruction of two neighboring kingdoms, “…for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Rahab, the harlot, the Canaanite, the worshiper of Baal, and worse, had come to her senses. “God is God!” She’d seen the power of Jehovah God at work, accepted the reality of his existence, and confessed with her mouth to these witnesses that the One they called God was God, the almighty God. So much for Baal, Molech, and Ashtoreth. She probably saw the duo’s arrival at her doorstep as divinely ordained, saving her from certain death, not only physical but also spiritual. Talk about your “aha!” moment.

With her belief in God stated and her trust in his messengers confirmed, Rahab acted on her faith, posthaste. James names Rahab as a good example of someone who walked her talk, who put feet to her spoken faith.

We can go to Bible studies, sing praise songs, and warm the pews of a church six times a week, but if no one ever says of us, “You would not believe what this person did because of their love for God!” then it’s time to open the doors of our hearts and see what brave thing God might be asking us to do.

Do you ever think of yourself as unworthy to act on your faith in God? What holds you back? Ask God for strength to act on the opportunities he puts before you.