Week 1

Rahab

Changing Your Messy Story

Joshua 2; 6

DAY 1: GOD CHOOSES MESSY PEOPLE

Settle

Take a deep breath and release it slowly. You may want to do this a few times. As you breathe, allow the stresses of your day, the messes of the moment, to disappear. If only for these few minutes of your day, leave behind your struggles and give God your whole self.

Focus

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession.

(1 Peter 2:9 NIV)

Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, "Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho." So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.

(Joshua 2:1)

Read all of Rahab's story in Joshua 2 and 6.

Reflect

God chooses messy people!

I used to believe that if God needed something significant done, then He would choose someone who had it all together. Do you know those women? They have well-behaved children, dress beautifully, and never lose their cool. They plan their meals in advance and come to Bible study with the homework done and the key verse memorized. They order a salad at lunch and then pick off the croutons. If God wants to do something important, then that gal is the one for the job. Right?

Maybe. But then along comes a Bible hero like Rahab, and the perfect image is shattered. Rahab gives me hope that God can use messy people — maybe even me. In fact, her story teaches me that sometimes God chooses women with rough résumés and imperfect pasts to get His tough tasks done. Our heroine this week fits this description well. In fact, the idea that she is considered a heroine at all probably would have been a joke to those who knew her personally. You see, Rahab was a prostitute.

As we explore her story this week we will see how God chooses to use messy people. Isn't that amazing! The God of the universe chooses to use people with damaged reputations, broken hearts, and sinful pasts. That is good news for us. He knows us, redeems us, and longs to bring us into His family, just as He did for Rahab.

Think back to when you were a little girl. Who was your favorite princess: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid, or another?

Mine was always Cinderella. Still is. I like the singing, sewing mice, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," the carriage, the glass slipper — all of that stuff. But what I really love is that she was the princess who was chosen. Many of the other princesses of my childhood were great and beautiful, but they had been born into the right household; their parents were royalty. Cinderella, though, was ordinary. That I can relate to.

At the heart of most women is the deep desire to be chosen. As middle schoolers in the lunchroom, we worry that we won't be chosen to sit with the other kids. In high school we want to be chosen to go to prom. As adults we want to be chosen for the promotion, the team, the club — we just want to be chosen! Great news: you are! No matter how messy your life has been, no matter what you've done or how your story has unfolded so far — God loves you, and you are chosen. Rahab's story is a great example of how God chooses to love and use messy people.

When have you felt chosen in life? How did it make you feel?

So let's get to our Bible story. Rahab lives within the walls of the world's oldest continually inhabited city, Jericho. She makes a living at the world's oldest occupation, prostitution. Jericho is the first city that Joshua comes to as God leads the Israelites across the Jordan River to conquer the land promised to the Israelites. The people who live in Jericho have heard of God and the miracles He has done for His people, but they worship pagan gods — not at all honoring the one true God.

Joshua, who has taken over leadership from his mentor, Moses, sends spies into Jericho on a reconnaissance mission. We read: Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, "Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho." So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

(Joshua 2:1)

Now let's stop here for a moment. "A prostitute named Rahab." That's quite a title. Wouldn't you hate to live with a label like that? It would be like being known as "Sarah the liar" or "Rachel the drunk." Ouch! It would sting to be known by your worst quality.

What labels have you been given in life, and how have they affected you?

Have you ever felt disqualified from being used by God? Explain your response.

The men stay at Rahab's for the night. Not a bad place for men from out of town to blend in. But the king gets word that there may be spies in his kingdom, so he sends out soldiers to find them. Rahab agrees to cover for them in exchange for protection when the Israelites invade the city.

After the soldiers leave Rahab's home, she says to the Israelite spies:

"I know the LORD has given you this land. ... We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. ... For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

"Now swear to me by the LORD that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you."

(Joshua 2:9-12a)

The spies agree, and when the Israelites conquer the city, Rahab and everyone in her household are spared (Joshua 6:22-23).

Was this a divine appointment that the spies would end up at Rahab's brothel? Maybe. Truthfully, we don't know. But we do know that God chose to use Rahab in a very difficult situation; she was an unlikely accomplice to God's plan.

This pagan woman, a prostitute living in a Canaanite town, recognizes and has faith in the God of Israel. She believes in a God she does not personally know but respects because of His amazing miracles. She even goes so far as to declare "the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below" (Joshua 2:11).

Read the verses below, and write your name in the blanks:

Even before he made the world, God loved...