A Thread of Hope – Part 1
By Annah Matthews
Monday, September 25, 2017
“When we heard this we lost heart and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” Joshua 2:11 HCSB
One of a woman’s deepest need is to feel loved. If we are honest with ourselves, our own insecurities sometimes make us do things that we never wanted to do and take us places that we never intended to be taken.
The enemy makes us believe that no one cares, no sees us, and we have no influence. I can assure you that is not true. Believe it or not, good or bad, every woman is a woman of influence.
Proverbs 14:1 tells us, “A wise woman builds her house but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.” (HCSB)
What does that look like for us today?
Our attitudes in marriage.
How we talk about other people.
How we deal with conflict.
How we deal with disappointment.
Our expectations in our family.
We never know how our lives can influence and impact another. The enemy tells us that our lives don’t matter, that no one cares, that no one sees. That is simply a lie.
The Bible is full of God’s Story meeting our stories and ordinary people influence others to make history.
Let me take you through a walk in Scripture with the most unlikely woman who had influence that she could have never imagined.
The Israelites have finished their 40 years of desert wandering and before Moses dies he passes the baton of leadership to Caleb and Joshua just as they are about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan.
Their first city in the conquest is Jericho, a fortified city. No one was permitted to leave or enter it without strict guidelines. They sent two spies into the city and they come to the house of a prostitute named Rahab. (Joshua 2:1)
In Joshua 2, Rahab is summoned by the king because, through her occupation and lifestyle, she is known as one who would frequent many strangers. Her occupation is a counterspy method for the King of Jericho. However, when the Israelite spies show up, it is a different story.
She lies and says she doesn’t know of any Israelites spies. She sends the king’s soldiers on a wild goose chase across the hillside while hiding the Israelite spies up on her roof.
I believe that God had pricked her heart and this one true God of Israel was unlike any Canaanite or pagan god. She simply believed. She had faith.
Hebrews 11:30 says, “By Faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.”
I believe she was tired of this lifestyle and she was in hopeful anticipation of better things to come. I can only imagine how she must have felt as a prostitute - lonely, isolated, used, abused.
This is where God’s Story intersects Her Story. Sometimes when we are most lonely, all we need is a sliver of hope. Hope which keeps our head above water and keeps us looking forward.
Rahab saw that there was hope in the God of the Israelites. The God who never breaks His Promises - YAWEH, The Covenant God.
God had been preparing her all along. She knew that she would be destroyed when the Israelites invaded but God intervened into a lonely heart that was ready for true intimacy. Not false intimacy that she had been paid for all these years.
When we come to the end of ourselves and the loneliness is too much to bear, God intervenes.
Join us tomorrow for the second part of Rahab’s story as we see how her story of influence continues.
God, Thank You for how You show us in Your Word that Your Story meets Our Story, which makes HIStory. Let us see how our faith may influence others and give us the strength to make the decisions that honor You, even if we are unsure or afraid. You are YAWEH, our Covenant Keeping God. Thank You for being our true companion and one who never breaks His Promise. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
© 2017 by Annah Matthews. All rights reserved.
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