Sunday School Lesson for June 19, 2011: God Protects His People (Joshua 2:2-9, 15, 16, 22-24)

Romans 2:11
For there is no respect of persons with God.





James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”





Romans 4:7-8
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”[





Joshua 2:9
and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land





Joshua 6:22
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.”





It could not have been easy for Rahab. Prostitution is a hard, hard way of life. While she may have been well to do at some level, prosperity had not come without a price. How did she get here? God only knows. How much pain? How much had been broken? How much physical abuse had she suffered? How many broken promises had she endured? Was she beautiful? Probably. Depends on who you asked. But you don’t see the boot prints in the middle of her back. And while it’s easy to make Rahab solely a victim (makes us feel better, doesn’t it?), she was hardly a paragon of virtue. She was a prostitute. She was a survivor. She’d made some hard choices, but they were just that: her choices. She was a convincing liar. When she lied to the King’s men and told them that the Israeli spies had departed her abode, they spent days chasing, tracking, following an imaginary trail created out her spoken words… and nothing else. Liar. Yeah, she had that down. And you know what about a liar? A liar will steal, cheat, what ever it takes. She was a survivor.

However, God saw something in Rahab, something that was there from the beginning. Something that looked like… Him. In her years, in her experiences, she’d heard about the God of Israel, The God of Heaven and Earth. She acknowledges in Joshua 2: v.11 that the God of Israel was truly God. How she find that out? When did she become convinced? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. At some point, you begin to maybe understand that maybe the Israeli spies were not so much sent to spy out the city of Jericho as to rescue Rahab, God’s chosen, out of it? Selah.

God’s Chosen? Really? Beloved, God had a plan for Rahab… from the beginning. God redeems Rahab. Not only does He redeem her, but He establishes her as royalty in Israel. He gives her a name eternally linked with the lineage of David, Israel’s greatest king, and Jesus, the Hope of all mankind. She goes from despised to distinguished, from a place of infamy and shame, as a prostitute to a place of eternal renown in the venerable ‘Hall of Faith’ in Hebrews, chapter 11. I have a lot more to say about Rahab. What was life like for her in Israel? Was she immediately accepted? A stranger in a strange land? Different ethnicity, different language, what kind of obstacles lay before her? Another time perhaps.

Beloved, whatever your past, or present, God has a future plan for you, a plan for eternal future and a hope, a plan to make you the head and not the tail, a plan to Bless you if you will trust Him. You may be a little rough around the edges, Rahab certainly was. You may not think God could use you or Bless you. Why you? Why should He? Beloved, why not you? Nothing is too hard for Him. He sent His Son for just this purpose: to save you. Good News. Come and get it. Rahab did.





Blessings,



.wb



Matthew 1:5-6
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.





Hebrews 11:31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.





1 Corinthians 1:26
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;



Proverbs 31:30
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.