Rahab

I have been reading a book about women of the Bible. The last chapter I read was about Rahab. I have a lot in common with her, not her line of work of course but with her need for extraordinary grace. The author says, "Rahab was redeemed not because of any meritorious works she did. She did not earn God's favor by any good deeds. Remember, even what she did do right – harboring the spies – was morally tainted because of the way she handled it. She lied. But she is not given to us as an example of the power of human works. She is not a lesson in how to better ourselves through self-improvement. She is a reminder that God by His grace can redeem even the most horrible life."

No matter what amount of "self-improvement" I can muster the sins that I struggle with persist. Why? Because only God's amazing grace can redeem the sin nature in me. I have a new Bible hero – Rahab. Some theologians attempt to sterilize her background with creative interpretations of the original wording in the Bible. She was a prostitute.  There is no way around it - distasteful as it may be.  God purposely choose her, I believe because of her great sin.  Her story is not her own.  It is God's.  If you "remove the stigma of sin" you also "remove the need for grace. Rahab is extraordinary precisely because she received extraordinary grace. There's no need to reinvent her past to try to make her seem less of a sinner. The disturbing fact about what she once was simply magnifies the glory of divine grace, which is what made her the extraordinary woman she became. That, after all, is the whole lesson of her life."

I admit my affinity to Rahab.  God has not allowed me to forget how closely I am related to her in my frustrating ability to sin and my need for His love and grace.  Recently a friend shared a link to another blog, parts of which resonated with me just as deeply as Rahab's life story perhaps because it is so much a part of Rahab's story.  

"…start imagining what it would feel like to throw away our internal lists of all the expectations that we put on ourselves, and others.  That's a scary kind of freedom that is offered to us.  Grace can be dangerous like that.

Though it's tough to take the time to examine our hearts at a deeper level, and expose our fears and our self righteous judgements…we can know that when we do that, God's incredible love and acceptance is just waiting to swallow us up!

As we press on in learning to rest in that kind of grace, we can thank God for the cross.  The one place we can run to for refuge.

Thank the Lord there is an endless supply of His grace awaiting there for all of us…every single day."

Ever feel like sin begins to define who we are?  Like it is going to swallow you up and never spit you back out again.  That like Paul you can honestly say, "The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it.  Instead, I do what I hate."  Romans 7:14-15  (At least I am in good company.)  Sin can become so much a part of our lives that it begins to be who we view ourselves as, who others view us as.  How hard must it have been for Rahab to allow God to redefine who she was in His light and truth?  She had been a prostitute and, although the town she lived in was destroyed and every person put to death except for Rahab and her closest family members; she had herself to contend with.  Ourselves and our families are often the hardest to convince of change perhaps because they generally know us the best.

God as our Heavenly Father doesn't have that problem.  He created us perfectly in His image.  He sees what we do not, the creation before sin.  He knows what we could be and desires above all else to reveal His nature in us.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1  Nothing in this verse says it will be easy.  True freedom rarely is.  But the verse says that true freedom is possible – that is the hope of Christ.  "But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.  So I am not the one doing wrong; it is the sin in me that does it."  Romans 7:16-17 When we allow Christ full access to our hearts and are willing to dive into the deep with Him by our side, His light will illuminate even our darkest most entrenched corners of self expectation and definition.  His light will strengthen the truth found there and eliminate the lies replacing them with nothing less than Himself.  Glory!