There are people in the Bible who I have been able to connect with; many that I could see myself reflected in their stories, their fears, their failures, and even the way God moved in their lives. One person I never thought I had all that much in common with is Rahab. Yesterday, I realized that I do have something in common with her; I think most of us do.
Rahab had an unrealistic faith in a God she had only heard stories about. She was the only one in the whole city of Jericho who believed in this God and that He was all powerful. She asked to be saved from the impending doom that was coming; from the complete destruction of her people. She hung a scarlet cord out her wall-dwelling window and waited. Waited for the Israelites to cross over the Jordan, on dry land. Waited as they marched around the city over a seven day span. Waited as the walls began to creak, shift, and crack. Waited while fear spread throughout the city. Waited while walls crumbled around her home. Waited while the Israelites spread out through the city to capture it. Waited until they came and saved her and her family from all the death and destruction around them.
I never really thought about her waiting before. I never thought about the worry and fear that she must have felt. I never thought about how her rational mind must have fought with the deep knowing of her heart that the God of the Israelites was the One True God. I never considered how it felt to live in the midst of Jericho falling. I honestly never thought about it at all. Somehow in my mind I saw it all as the Sunday School lesson: she hid the spies, she helped them escape, the Israelites walked around Jericho, the walls fell, and she and her family were saved. Neat and tidy. No fear. No worry. No massive crumbling stones. No death screams. No need to escape through a battle.
I may never face a real life situation anything close to hers, but spiritually, that's a different story. Take any step of significant faith and a battle will begin. The battle within between my rational thoughts and a deep heart believing faith in His Promises. The battle to believe when others won't. The battle of hearing satan's lies and trying to ignore them and shut them out. The battle to take doubt and fear thoughts captive. The battle of waiting and waiting and waiting. The battle to wait and see how God will win.
I realized that I am a lot more like Rahab than I would have ever thought. I hope that my faith is like hers. She might have had doubts, I don't know how she couldn't, but she stayed inside her home and believed even as the unthinkable raged around her. I want to believe what my mind can't fathom. I want to hang out my faith cord and stay firmly standing in the place He has me in while I wait. I want to come out of the battle, free and seeing the familiar around me as more than just my home, but as my Promised Land. I want to be more like Rahab and be a woman who believes in God above all else.
