Unlikely Vessels

Rahab and the Scarlet Thread
Photo source: womenofthebibleoils.com

Do you ever struggle to believe that God can use you, a sinner, for the furtherance of His Kingdom? Maybe you don't have any special skills, like teaching or preaching, or the gift of evangelism or prophecy, and you feel like God can not use you very much in the service of His church.

I know I have struggled in this way!  How can God use me, a person of such little influence?

Well, I wanted to dive into the story of Rahab today--a person who seems very unlikely to be used of God.  After all, we learn from the Scriptures that she was a prostitute, and she was outside the people of God, being a Gentile.  Let's take a moment to read her story in the second chapter of Joshua:

"And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, 'Go, view the land, especially Jericho.' And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.  And it was told to the king of Jericho, 'Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.' Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, 'Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.'  But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, 'True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.' But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out."

Here we see Rahab hiding the Jewish spies sent by Joshua to survey the city of Jericho.  Why would she do such a thing, knowing that these people intended to destroy and take over her homeland?  The next few verses explain her heart, starting with verse 9:

 “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Did you catch that?  Rahab was placing her trust in the God of Israel, the one true God.  And so, she goes on to talk to the spies about sparing her life, and the lives of her family, since she has helped to save their lives.  The spies agree and instruct her to dangle a scarlet thread from her window (as her house was built into the city wall) so they will see it when they come back to destroy Jericho.  In this way, they will know to keep her and her household away from harm.  (Check out this post to learn more about the fascinating symbolism of this scarlet thread!)

And so it is--Rahab, a non-Jewish former prostitute, is mightily used by God to spare the lives of the Israelite spies and enable them to be successful with their plan to destroy Jericho and claim the land God had promised to His people.  And, even more surprisingly, we see that Rahab would go on to bear Boaz, who marries Ruth, and she would be a part of the family lineage of King David and Jesus Himself!

So, the next time you are feeling like you cannot be used of God--either because you lack influence, skills, or because of your former sins--remember the message we see in the life of Rahab!  God DOES and CAN use us ALL for His glory!