Works of Faith
Joshua 2:1-18; 6:22-25
"...Was not even Rahab... considered righteous for what she did...? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."
(JAMES 2:25-26)
Word travels fast in our world. Little happens that we can't immediately read about electronically.
Tales of Israel's miraculous escape from Egypt and devastating victories over Canaan's cities traveled quickly throughout the area around Jericho even without technology's aid! People's hearts "were melting with fear" at stories of God's power. A prostitute in Jericho decided she wouldn't be immobilized by fear. Instead, Rahab put her faith in that amazing God. When Israel's spies arrived, she confirmed her new faith by immediately putting it into action - hiding them, helping them escape, and supplying the search party with misinformation. In return, her life was spared during Jericho's capture. God's blessings continued as Rahab went to live with the Israelites. Eventually she became the mother of Boaz. Matthew 1:5 records her name in the genealogy of Jesus.Rahab made faith an action word. Do the deeds of your life reflect a lively faith relationship with God to those you touch on your journey?
INSIGHT
"GO FORTH AND SPREAD THE GOSPEL, AND, IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST, USE WORDS."
(ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Job 31-32
Psalm 57
Luke 20
Joshua 2:1-18
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
Rahab and the Spies
2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho. ” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute[a] named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 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. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 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.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given this land to you 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. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[b] 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.[c] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 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 13 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.”
14 “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.”
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”
17 The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.
Footnotes:
a. Joshua 2:1 Or possibly an innkeeper
b. Joshua 2:10 Hebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds
c. Joshua 2:10 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
Joshua 6:22-25
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her. ” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho —and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
POWER BEYOND POLITICS
God's Word tells us that political leaders can never truly hold sovereign power. God alone holds the reigns of history and he is in control. What does that mean for Christians during an election?
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