Protect Like Rahab

 

When Joshua was planning the siege of Jericho, he sent two spies into the city.

They went and lodged at the home of Rahab, the harlot.  The king heard about her visitors and demanded that she turn them over.  

Instead she made up a story about  how they had just left and sent them to chase after them.  The men were actually hiding on her roof beneath sheaths of flax that were drying.  

Why would she do this? She said she had heard about the Red Sea being parted.  "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."  

She had enough faith to convince her to take action on the Lord's side.  

She then asked for the men to spare her family when they came to battle.  She used a red cord to lower them out the window and allow them to escape. 

She was told to mark her home using the cord and her family would be spared. 

In James 2:25, Rahab is praised for her actions again. "Likewise also was not ​​​Rahab​ the harlot ​​​justified​ by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent ​them​ out another way?"

She had faith in the Lord and acted on it. 

She protected her family by trusting in the Lord and not in the men around her.  She recognized truth.  Her occupation and her background didn't stop God from using her and trusting her.  She spoke up and asked courteously for what she needed, but not without doing her part. 

I can protect my family by letting God guide my choices.  I can speak up for what we need.  I can have enough faith to take action, even when it goes against the general consensus.  Even when it leads me to unexpected places and no matter what my past has been.  I can trust God above all else. 

I can protect like Rahab.