Survivor, a Three-Day Devotional by Brian Johnson and Zach WilliamsSample

Day 2- Rescued from the Grip of Sin

Now I'm alive and born again

Rescued from the grip of sin

God your love came crashing in

And pulled me out of the fire

I'm a survivor

Sometimes all a person knows is all a person knows. 

Were you one that grew up without a godly influence in your life? As a result, you practiced the wisdom of the world and the sage advice of the streets. This mentality may get you through a few years, but it can also get you entangled in patterns of life that leave the heart bruised, beaten, and battered. 

Today, we want to enter into the story of a woman named Rahab. She had become a prisoner of her passions, but this is not how the story started. When she was born, she was a precious child created in the image of God. However, she had inherited the plague of Adam’s race - sin. Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  Rahab was born into a family that did not believe in the One True God, and she dwelt in the midst of an ungodly culture of Jericho (Exodus 23:32-33). Living in a land of idols, darkness filled her heart. All she knew was all she knew. Rahab became a prostitute— unprincipled, unclean, unashamed, and unfaithful. This was her world and her means of survival. 

In the meantime, God and His people were on the move in the conquest of the Promised Land. The first stop was Jericho. The people in Canaan had been hearing about the power of God on behalf of His people ever since He had dried up the Red Sea for them forty years ago, defeated their enemies, and recently dried up the waters of the Jordan (Joshua 2:10, 5:1). The Canaanites hearts were filled with fear, and they lost courage. Who could fight against the Almighty? 

In the midst of her sinful lifestyle, Rahab had heard these reports. God was coming, and she was not on His side. God’s truth had invaded her heart. She became convicted. If Israel’s God had power over death as displayed in Egypt, over creation as shown at the Red Sea, and over armies as displayed against Israel’s enemies, then certainly He could rescue her. She declared, “I know that the Lord has given you the land… And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (2:9a,11). 

Rahab’s heart was conquered by God’s love. “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31).  While the city of Jericho and all of its inhabitants would be destroyed by fire in God’s judgment, those in her home where the scarlet cord was hung in her window would be rescued (Joshua 2:18). 

What a picture of God’s redemption! The very home which had been used to promote sin was now a haven of salvation for her and her family (Joshua 6:17, 25). Rahab’s dwelling had become a safe place. Her heart had been transformed. The beauty of her femininity was restored. She eventually married a man from the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1:5). She gave birth to a son who was in the genealogical line of King Jesus Christ. 

Rahab did not settle for the excuse—all I know is all I know. Instead, by God’s grace, she came to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Could you imagine Rahab singing these lyrics? 

When I was a lost soul searching 

You were the ground beneath my feet

When I was a blind man begging

You were the eyes so I could see

When the smoke was rising up

You were the air that I could breath

You gave me hope you gave me something to believe 

Now I'm alive and born again

Rescued from the grip of sin

God your love came crashing in

And pulled me out of the fire

I'm a survivor