Rahab

24Jan12

Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.”

God honors faith. When a person makes the conscious decision to invest their trust in who the Lord is and what He’s said, He honors and blesses them. And here’s the amazing thing: This holds true for absolutely everyone. A person’s background doesn’t disqualify them from being honored. A person’s past – who they were and what they’ve done – is irrelevant in God’s eyes once faith enters the equation.

We need look no further than the story of Rahab to see positive proof of this. She arrived on the scene in Joshua Chapter 2. The Israelites were on the verge of destroying her city, Jericho, which stood in their way. Two Israeli spies crossed paths with her, and because she had heard how God was with their people, she vowed allegiance to them in hopes of being saved.

Keep all of this in context. Rahab was a “pagan” woman who had no connection whatsoever to the special covenant God established with the Israelites. She was also a harlot, a woman who sold her body for a living. Rahab was further outside of God’s program than just about anyone.

But she believed the God of Israel was real, she believed her life needed to be aligned with Him, and she believed she could be saved by being on His side. The Lord saw and honored her belief, and she was miraculously saved while the rest of her city and its inhabitants perished. God honored Rahab even further by orchestrating events so she would be the grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5)! That’s a lot of honor for a pagan prostitute! But it all happened by virtue of the fact that God honors faith in Him, no matter who or where it comes from.

The next time you doubt that God loves you and accepts you, remember Rahab. Her story shows the extent of God’s amazing grace toward all who believe.

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