Editor’s Note: I am wrapping up a gospel meeting in Bowling Green, KY, at the Riverstone congregation. This fall, they are using some class material I wrote a year or two ago called “Those Who Walk by Faith.” My meeting has introduced the book to them, and tonight’s lesson will focus on Rahab’s story. What can we learn from Rahab that will encourage us today?
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Have you ever done exactly what God asked of you and then had to wait a long time to see Him come through? If so, you and Rahab have something in common.
When the two spies left her house in Jericho, they gave this instruction: tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down, Joshua 2:18. She was to bring her parents, her brothers, and the rest of her family inside, and everyone under her roof would be spared when Israel took the city. She agreed, and as soon as they’d gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window, Joshua 2:21.
Think for a minute about what that cost her. Her house was built right into the city wall (2:15), so the cord hung where anybody walking below could see it. The king had already sent men to her door once looking for those spies, and Jericho was locked down tight, no one leaving or entering, Joshua 6:1. Now she had a house full of relatives who knew what she’d done, and any one of them could have talked.
Then came the waiting. The spies hid in the hills for three days before returning to Joshua. Israel crossed the Jordan, camped at Gilgal, circumcised the men, and kept the Passover (Joshua 3–5). When the army finally showed up at Jericho, they didn’t attack. They marched around the city once and went back to camp. Joshua had told them to keep completely quiet: Don’t let one word come out of your mouth until the day I tell you, “Shout!” Joshua 6:10. The next day they did it again, and the day after that, for six days.
Try to picture all that from her window. As far as we can tell, nobody had told her what the seventh day would bring. She had a promise from two men she’d met once, and a red cord tied to the window frame. I’d guess by the fourth or fifth morning of silent marching she was wondering what in the world was going on. She could have pulled that cord and hoped nobody would ever find out. She left it right where it was.
On the seventh day, the walls came down. Joshua sent the two spies to her house, and they brought out Rahab, her family, and everyone who belonged to her (6:22–23). Hebrews 11:31 commends her faith: By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
Maybe you’re in your own season of waiting right now. You’ve given your life to the Lord, and you’re doing your best to walk with Him. You’ve been praying for a son or daughter who’s drifted, or for healing, or for a marriage that’s hurting, and the answer hasn’t come yet. You keep doing what you know to do, and some weeks it doesn’t feel like anything’s changing. Most of us have been there, and some of the folks right here around you are there right now.
Those are the weeks when faith gets tested the most. When you come to worship anyway, and keep praying even when it feels like your prayers aren’t going anywhere, you’re leaving your cord in the window. Hebrews 10:23 encourages us to hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. Rahab kept waiting because she trusted God to keep His word. You can trust Him too.
He kept His word to her, and then some. Matthew 1:5 lists Rahab in Jesus’ family tree as the mother of Boaz. A Canaanite woman who’d once lived as a prostitute on Jericho’s wall ended up in the line of the Messiah.
So, whatever you’re waiting on, don’t take your cord down. What promise of God are you holding on to today?
From Fear to Faith | fromfearto.faith