“Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.” 

 “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 2:12-15 

–

December 3, 2025 

In response to God’s revelation of Himself as sovereign over heaven and earth, Rahab enmeshed herself in a set of circumstances that had potential for great benefit as well as great harm. She now staked her life and that of her family upon the trustworthiness of the spies she had concealed. Rahab appealed to the two Israelites for safeguard based on the kindness she had already shown toward them. Her line of reasoning was perfectly understandable; the spies agreed, assuring her of safe treatment when the land fell to the Israelites, if she continued to hide their intentions. 

You might wonder how Rahab slept that night with two spies on the roof over her head. Was she plagued with doubts about what she had done, or did she sleep soundly for the first time in months, knowing that there was a plan formulating for saving herself and her family? The world operates on a transactional basis where things happen based on give and take. Rahab cut a deal with the spies that was also transactional, with the underlying premise of preservation amid impending destruction.  

God tapped Rahab on the shoulder, and she responded when two spies showed up at her doorstep. She began to trust in a God of whom she really had little knowledge. Rahab’s introduction to Him was only reports of deliverance and conquest involving a foreign nomadic people that were now threatening her city. No citizen of Jericho would, under normal circumstances, sequester two enemy spies in their home. But God moved in Rahab’s heart to put herself and her family in the hands of two strangers.  

Believers are called to that which seems nonsensical to a lost world. Who would march around a fortified city for seven days blowing trumpets to conquer it? Who would put themselves in a position of financial dependence upon others in order to go to another part of the world to tell people of a different language and culture about Jesus? Who would endure ridicule by peers because of commitment to purity before marriage? Who would love their enemies and pray for their persecutors? Who values forgiveness, servanthood, self-denial, mercy, and acknowledgement of Jesus before men? This is who we are as followers of our Lord.  

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • What “nonsensical” things have you been called to do as a follower of Jesus?  
  • When have you been forced to depend upon God alone to get you through something?  
  • In whose hands do you place your future and that of your family?  

Church Reading Plan: 2 Chronicles 2; 1 John 2