From Secret Sin to Secret PlaceSýnishorn

Rahab wasn’t exactly the woman of the year. Let’s just say her profession was less than admirable. Many would say she was a mess and a hopeless case. On top of everything, she was living in the wrong place at the wrong time because her city was marked for total destruction. However, upon hearing rumors about the acts of God and then encountering the Hebrew spies, she decided to bring them to her place and host them. Not long after that officers came searching for the spies and she was faced with a choice: hide the spies or expose them. She made the right choice and hid them. That act of hosting the spies completely changed her life. Achan’s hiding ruined him while Rahab’s hosting changed her life for the better. She and her family were saved from total destruction. But it doesn’t end there. Rahab went from being a prostitute to being the wife of Salmon, one of the spies she hosted. Not only that, she became the mother of Boaz, who became the father of Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became father of King David, and the rest is history. She was even one of only five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. That’s pretty special. Hosting someone changed this woman’s life. It was not only the act of inviting the spies into her home, but hiding them. She was rewarded for not giving them up when the city officials came after her to do so. We are invited to host the Holy Spirit who lives on the earth that we occupy, even though the earth is His. Rahab had occupied the land that belonged to Israel, where she hosted the spies that entered the city. In the same way, the Holy Spirit enters our heart through an invitation of salvation. However, through surrender, we enter into intimacy with Him. Salvation invites the Holy Spirit, but surrender initiates a relationship with Him. In other words, the Holy Spirit comes when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but relationship with Him comes when we host Him. He waits to be wanted, longs to be invited, and desires to be hosted. Rahab didn’t just notice the spies in the city, she hid them in her house. Not only had she had hidden them, but she made an effort to not give them up to the soldiers who questioned her. That means we need to make a consistent effort to maintain an on-going relationship with the Holy Spirit. For so many of us this is a huge problem. We begin to have a relationship with God after reading a book or going to a conference, but then after a few weeks we give up because of busyness, the demands of life, and responsibilities at work. Others give up hosting because they are lazy and don’t “feel it” anymore. Rahab didn’t give up, even when she was pressured to do so. She protected whom she hid. Little did she know how much that would change her life. Nobody knows what the Holy Spirit is able to do when we host Him and pay the price of being consistent.