Scarlet Ribbon, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 2-8

Scarlet Ribbon, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 2-8

God keeps using the wrong people.  We would think that God would want to use the best, the brightest, the most faithful, the person who knows scripture the best, or the “somethingest bestest” among us.  In the New Testament it tells us that “the last will be first.” And Jesus is always hanging out with, well with people that you weren't supposed to hang out with.  He’s hanging out with women, tax collectors, the sick, the unclean, adulteress, the prostitutes, the sinners.  Kind of like He’s hanging out with the Who’s Who of Not Who’s Who.  When we read this in the New Testament it seems to be some new and radical concept. 

But maybe it wasn't all that radical an idea at all, not for God anyway.

The spies from Israel are hidden by a prostitute name Rahab.  I’m not completely up on the customs of her day. It could have been an ok and respected profession back then, perhaps connected with some sort of temple worship.  Don’t really know.  But generally throughout history prostitue hasn’t been a coveted position.  Certainly there's a double standard that the prostitute gets mentioned but not the guys that used her.  Double standards have been around for a long time, a sad commentary on the nature of human society.

Yet here we have Rahab figuring prominently in a pivotal event in the history of Israel.  Is she elevated to this pivotal position because of her faithfulness to God?  Has she decided to repent and ask forgiveness for all her sins?  Did she promise to turn over a new leaf, change her profession and follow God?  No.  She’s just practical.

She tells the spies that she knows the Lord has given the land to Israel.  Pretty good faith in the outcome considering Israel hasn't exactly completed their move into the Promise Land.  Why?  Well, apparently that whole Red Sea incident left quite an impression.  And remember, this is happening some 40 years after the Red Sea.  She also knows about the other kings and people that the Israelites have conquered.  Okay, Israel hasn’t completed moving into the Promised Land but they seem to be making pretty good progress.  And frankly, she’s scared.  Everyone is scared.

So she is smart enough to see the hand writing on the wall, “Don’t mess with Israel.”  So she makes a simple and practical deal.  “I saved your lives.  Please save my life and the lives of my family.”  She let’s down a rope from her window outside the city walls so the spies can escape.  And she ties a scarlet cord in the window to identify her as a friend of Israel.  And her family is saved.  When Israel sees the ribbon they will spare Rahab and her family.

Hebrews 11:31 tells us, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”  A practical lady making a practical deal, that counts as faith?  Really? 

But it turns out that she did have faith in the right God.  And she knows that only by aligning herself with God can she be saved.  And when I think about this story, maybe Rahab knows more about faith than me.  I could think of lots of reasons why I’m not “last”.  And I may not be on top of the list of the Who’s Who of Faith, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not at the bottom.  And sure, I needed to be saved but I wasn’t that bad, was I?  I can give a pretty good account of my faith.  And there it is, my equivocating, my pride, my arrogance all on display for me and everyone else to see.

The reality is that I was just as lost as Rahab until the grace and forgiveness of God came into my life.  I wasn’t in a position to bargain.  I had nothing to offer accept the plea, “God, I need You.  God I’m lost without You.  Please God, save my life, save my soul.”  

The truth is that is there is no last or first.  There is no better or worse.  There are just all of us equally in need of the forgiveness of God.  And for each of us there is a scarlet ribbon to hang in the windows of our hearts.  We just need to ask.

God, forgive my pride and arrogance.  There are times when I think I’m better off than others.  There are times when I think I have a special place before You.  But the only reason I can come before You at all is Your grace and mercy through the death of Your Son Jesus Christ.  And I am special, but only because You have made me that way by Your grace.  Just as You have make all who accept Christ special.  I am not last.  I am not first.  I am simply Your’s because You saved me.  Thanks for that scarlet ribbon at the window of my soul.  Amen

Leonard