Rahab

Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshua 2:24

Luke 13:22-14:6

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 12:26

I allowed myself to fall behind in the reading the past couple days and it doesn't feel great. I feel like I had good reasons, but at the same time I didn't. I just got a little too much in my head.

But I caught up tonight and just in time to be led into Joshua! Yay! I'm sad to not read about Moses anymore, because he's a great character. But I do not miss the books with all the Laws! I'm happy to be back in story books.

And I particularly love the beginning of Joshua. God tells him over and over again "be strong and courageous." The Lord knows he will need to remember that...the story is about to just get crazier. And the Lord knows I need to hear that repeated as well.

But I love the story of Rahab. I didn't always love it as much, but again, Francine Rivers really helped me understand it in her book "Lineage of Grace," I continue to highly recommend that book.

For some reason the main thing people seem to fixate on is "was Rahab sinning when she lied?" It's always perplexed me why that stops everyone in their tracks. As though God couldn't use someone or bless someone in their sin??? He does it all the time. There's so many more important things about the story. I just think whether she was technically sinning is besides the point. I think that yes, lying is a sin, God says so, but that Rahab's lie in this instance is more an example of how fallen the world is in general. It's not an isolated situation.

The real message of the story though is how Rahab knew the fear of God. Rahab lied because she feared God more than she feared her own people. She made a choice to be faithful to the God of the Israelites. Even though He was not her God. She knew He was the true God though, and she chose to serve Him. She knew the Israelites were capable of anything because their God was capable of anything.

And she will eventually be grafted into the nation of Israel just as Ruth one day will be. Rahab will birth Boaz who will eventually marry Ruth who will eventually be the great grandmother of David...this is the lineage of Christ.

I'm excited to keep reading about the Israelites crossing the Jordan and defeating Jericho...it's such a victorious and exciting chapter in the story of God's people, and I intend to savor it.