I'm glad that the producers of the Bible, kept the Rahab story in the show. It's a very brief moment in the history of all that God is doing with God's people, but it is a significant story because she is included in the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew, chapter one. Here is a woman, who was not the best example of faith, being willing to cooperate with what God is doing and God used her.
So often we resist or hang back from letting God use us for God's purposes because we feel like we are not perfect, and therefore not qualified to serve God or participate in something God is doing. I've worked a lot of my life trying to be perfect so God would not have a reason for putting me aside when the time came to be useful, but I found that work too hard and I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. God can still use me with my flaws, my hesitations, my misunderstandings and my resistances. That is truly good news.
In God's story, Rahab was a lady of the evening, shall we say, who provided a place to hide for the two spies that Joshua sent into Jericho to check out the city before attacking it. The people of Israel, had come through the desert wandering since their deliverance from Egypt. The older generation that had complained so much, they died off in the desert. Joshua had the new generation and was at the edge of the promised land. Except Jericho stood in the way. God's plan was to reassure Joshua that this was not an obstacle to worry about. Hence the song we know from childhood, "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came a tumbling down."
The angel of the Lord instructed Joshua to circle the city each day for six days, just walk around the city. The seventh day, they were to walk around the city six times, then blow the trumpets and shout out and the walls would crumble and the soldiers could march right in. It was God who did the work of knocking down the walls and opening the doors. God still does that, but we think we have to do the work. Maybe we should pray around something and let God open the door, more often.
I teach a couple of classes during the week and one of the questions or comments that came up from the students was why the story of Samson and Delilah took so much time. That's a good question. But it also relates to a lesson we need to learn, God's timing and God's using events in our lives is often hard to understand or get a handle on. We want everything spelled out very clearly, and this doesn't fit that category very well. Delilah, in the scripture, had to bug, beg, whine for a whole week to get Samson to divulge his secret to his strength. In the scripture he kept giving her a different and untrue reason and the soldiers would burst in on them and he would be as strong as ever and escape. But when she finally wore him down, he confessed his hair and his vow to God was his source of strength, she found a way to have his hair cut and he lost his strength.
In the end, his hair grew back. He was blinded so that the Philistines could control him. But in the last act, he was able to pull down the columns that held the temple of their god and he crushed his enemy as he took his own life. He was not perfect either, but God could use him too. Our dedication and commitment to God and doing God's will and work is a source of strength, even in uncertainty and if we don't have all the answers. This is a good lesson to learn from watching the Bible on the History channel.
I'm hoping you decide to work on getting God's strength into your life. Dedication, prayer, worship, study of scripture will all build you up to help you face the challenges this world gives you. A One Year Bible from a bookstore or online is a great way to start. It's little baby steps toward reading the whole Bible. The Story, a condensed version of the Bible is a really good place to start as well.
Blessings on your faith journey and keep watching the Bible, you will learn good things, or be challenged to want to know more. You can always comment here and I'll try to answer your questions or thoughts.
Pastor Jeff
