From Rejected to Respected

From Rejected to Respected

Bible

Josh 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.2And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.3And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.4And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:5And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.6But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.KJV

Josh 2:7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us. KJV

Josh 6:17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord : only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.KJV

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From Rejected to Respected
 
The story of Rahab reminds me so much of the fact that no matter how far a person is from God, the Lord can take their lives and turn them around so that they may become a shining testimony of His grace.
 
As we go about our lives it is amazing to me the way that we pass judgements upon others. Even though they are souls who can go on to be used of God in a mighty way. We need to realize that our judgmental attitudes can hinder then from what the Lord wants to do in and through them?Because, God can take the mess we have made of our lives and make us new.  He can see the big picture.
 
Rahab was a prostitute, or to use an old and less offensive term, “a lady of the evening”…
 
Even so, the Lord shows us in the Word that Gods plan is certainly not what our plan would be. We wouldn’t have trusted her, or used her to protect the spies so that Gods plan to bring the walls of Jericho down was accomplished, but He did…
 
Rahab knew the right thing to do was to hide the spies that Joshua sent into Jericho.  She sent the pursuers on a wild goose chase and harbored the spies to protect them from the king.  She only asked that the people of the Lord would show her and her house favor…or as she wonderfully put it “Save Our Souls From Death”….
 
As she swore the oath of truth..and they swore an oath of protection, Rahab knew she couldn’t go back to her old life, in fact I don’t believe that she even wanted it.  She knew that there were two ways her life could go..back to that old life that she knew or on to the new life that God had laid before her. She understood that there were risks in being a servant in His Kingdom and yet she chose that day to walk in a new direction.
 
As the story unfolds, Rahab’s family was protected from death as the Isrealites won the battle and took the city of Jericho… 
 
This is proof  positive that it is a wonderful thing to be under the covering of the Lords covenant.
 
Matthew 1:5 shows us how that the Lord can take a life ravaged by sin and will turn it around and make that life a blessing to the souls in their world…Rahab was a prostitute no more, and became the grandmother of King David and so found herself in the lineage of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
Everyone needs to know that if your life today is a tangled mess – the Lord has a plan for you…
 
Give the pieces of the puzzle of your life to Jesus, and He will put it together for His purpose and to bring the blessings of God unto your life…
 
Synopsis by Sue Keller and edited by Pastor John Soshea

 

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