Hello Everyone,
There is another way in which Rhab’s story is true of you and
me, and that is:
MY
STORY INVOLVES A CHOICE
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden
them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they
had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they
left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up
with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the
stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in
pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the
Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the
roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has
given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that
all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have
heard how the Lord dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of
Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the
Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When
we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed
because of you, for the Lord your
God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
“Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show
kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a
sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my
brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from
death.”
“Our
lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are
doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land”
Joshua 2:4–14 (NIV).
Now,
it is easy to read a story like this without fully appreciating it.
Let’s
not do that.
Let’s
take a minute to put ourselves in Rahab’s shoes.
She
faced a decision.
She
could have turned the spies away.
She
could have turned them in.
She
didn’t have to help them.
The
safe choice probably would have been to stay out of the line of fire.
But
given a choice between the side the Lord was on and the other side, she chose the Lord’s
side.
And
I wonder if something was working in Rahab, too.
I
wonder if the status quo felt more like “status no” to her.
I
wonder if she was ready to be somewhere
else.
I
wonder if she was ready to be someone else.
Maybe
like some of us here, today.
Maybe
there is someone for whom the status quo feels more like “status no.”
Maybe
there is someone who is ready to be somewhere
else, to be someone else.
Maybe
there is someone who is ready to be free.
Do
you know: Our God is a God who specializes in setting captives
free?
Remember Joseph’s story?
The
kid brother who was sold into slavery in Egypt?
God
not only got him out of slavery and out of prison; He made Joseph
prime minister of the whole land of Egypt!
Remember the story of Joseph’s ancestors
in Egypt?
They
were enslaved by the Egyptians … until God sent a man named Moses who
led His people out of slavery.
Remember the story of Israel in the
time of the Judges?
Year
after year, generation after generation, they strayed from God and his
ways, and were repeatedly oppressed and enslaved by a succession of
nations.
And
repeatedly God sent leaders—judges, as they are called in the Bible—to deliver
them.
Our God is a God who sets captives
free.
He shatters our bonds.
He delivers us from sin.
But he will not do so without our consent.
Like Rahab, each of us faces
a decision, too.
·
Sin
or salvation?
·
Slavery
or freedom?
If
you haven’t yet done so,
I
hope today is the day when you say NO
to the status quo.
I
hope there is someone today who is ready to be somewhere else to be
someone else.
I
hope there is someone who is ready to be FREE!
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