Rahab sat outside the tent. It was just around dusk and a warm breeze began to blow through the Israelite camp. She tucked her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she exhaled a faint smile crossed her face and she began to think back on all that God had done for her and her family.

She thought back to the words of the spies. "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. (Joshua :14)”

Rahab knew at that moment she could trust these men—these Israelites. She knew Jericho belonged to them, and though most of her people had feared them, she knew she served the same God, Jehovah, the one true God.

Her smile faded for a second when she thought of her old life as a prostitute. Oh, she knew in her heart of hearts that what she had done for a living was wrong in the eyes of God. But somehow living among these Israelite people she found peace with her past. She believed in the lessons she had been taught and that one day there would be One (the Messiah) who would crush the head of the serpent and pay the price for sin once and for all.

By this time her heart overflowed with thankfulness and tears began to trickle down her face. She remembered the day she was rescued from Jericho. She had done just as the spies had told her. She had gathered her family in her home and tied a scarlet cord in the window so the Israelites would know to spare her home. And that they did.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up toward the Heavens. She clasped her hands together and said, “thank you, thank you My LORD, Jehovah.”

“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. (Joshua 6:25)”

All we really know from scripture is that after the fall of Jericho Rahab went to live with the Israelites. So, truth be told, I made up the above scene. Forgive me. I just know that if I had walked in the shoes of Rahab I would be so grateful and thankful to God for sparing my life and blessing me with a new one, or would I?

Honestly, I know I could be much more thankful. I am so quick to give all my requests to my Heavenly Father, but I’m short and to the point with thanking God when my prayers are answered. I tend to just move on to the next request instead of basking in the greatness of what God has done for me.

I challenge you, along with myself, to give back to God by showering Him with thankfulness and praise. He is so worthy.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. (Psalm 100: 1, 4)”

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 named Rahab and stayed there.”  Joshua 2:1

Honestly, I just don’t get it.  The spies went and entered someone’s house?  Shouldn’t they have been doing more spy-ish things, like ducking behind cacti while the mission impossible theme song played in the background?  And why of all places did they go to a prostitute’s house?  I don’t want to give God’s guys a bad wrap here, but this really just doesn’t seem logical to me.

But what makes even less sense is that this prostitute made it into God’s hall of fame.  Better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard, Rahab is listed among spiritual giants such as Abraham, Noah, Joseph and Moses.  What on earth could a prostitute do to be ranked among the likes of such men?

Well, she hid the spies.  That simple.  When the king of Jericho came looking for them, she lied and said they had already left (Joshua 2:4).  I’m not trying to make light of what she did.  I have no doubt Anne Frank was exceedingly grateful to the people who hid her from the Nazis and thereby saved her life.  The spies’ gratitude is just as apparent as they agree to wipe out all of the city except for Rahab and her family.  But what is it that makes Rahab so extraordinary?  Hebrews 11:31 gives us the first half of the answer:

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Faith.  Rahab exhibited tremendous amounts of it as she talked to the spies, yet it is only part of the solution.  James 2:24-26 completes the equation.

You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

How is this equation playing out in your life?  Are your deeds linked to your faith?

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b