Too Filthy For God...Rahab

Joshua 2:1-21, 6:17, 22-23, 25

Rahab…Have you ever actually thought about the fact that Rahab was a prostitute. If you’ve spent much time in Gods word you’ve heard this fact mentioned, maybe even to the point that it means little to you. Please let this fact fall on you afresh.

In our current culture so many have bought wholly into Satan’s lie that sex is a purely physical act, that it is something we deserve and most disturbingly that it is something good that God is selfishly keeping from us. Allow me to point out the fact that this was Satan’s original lie to Eve.

Genesis: 2: 4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

He likes this one and he keeps using it. While the point that sex is something God has set apart for specific relationships is important and true it is not the one I am trying to make at the moment.

So, what is my point? It is simply this; more likely than not in some season of your tenure on this earth you bought that lie and you have experienced the devastating consequences. No, most likely you did not experience an unexpected pregnancy at 16 (though someone has). No, you may not have an incurable STD (though someone does). But if you’ve given yourself over in this manner you have felt the stinging shame, the ripping of your heart and the crying out of your soul (whether you admit it or not). If you are feeling a stab of reproach in these words I beg you to push away from your computer screen, sink to your knees, put your face on your carpet and experience the full forgiveness of your Savior and your God. Have a nice long talk with Him. We’ll be here when you get back.

All of that digging up of emotions you’d prefer stayed buried was to say this. Rahab was a prostitute. Can you even begin to imagine the pain, shame and self-reproach she must have felt?

Yet (don’t you just love the Godly ‘yet’?) when she heard of the mighty acts of Yahweh she ALONE in all of Jericho had faith enough to be saved!!! And, precious child of God do not miss this point, God honored her faith. She and all her family were saved when Jericho was leveled by God and his Israelite army. Praise God!!! He used this broken hurting woman who offered up her tiny mustard seed of faith to protect his people, he saved her from death and here comes the beautiful part, she became an ancestor of Jesus.

Rahab, the prostitute, was taken as the wife of an Isrealite man, Salmon. She became the mother of Boaz. Boaz, was a man of the highest character. He was the type of man who came to the rescue of a helpless foreign woman (see the book of Ruth). How I love the stories of men like these!!! God was the inventor of that white horse you’ve been waiting on. The direct descendant of Boaz, the child of the former prostitute, was Joseph, as in Mary and Joseph (Matt 1:5-16). Wow God!

So, here’s the thing. God, who breathed every word of scripture into being, did not omit Rahab’s profession from His record in either the Old (Josh 2:1 among others) or the New Testament (Heb 11:31). He certainly could have. He could have made the entire Israelite nation forget she ever was a prostitute. Or, if he were like us, He could have chosen a nice upstanding young woman to hide the spies and to become the ancestor of Christ. Praise God He is not like me. He chose the heart of His woman. I want to yell ‘YAY’ but my babies are asleep so I’ll just shout for joy in my heart!

Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all of the earth!!! (Ps 8:9)

You see, you are not too bad for God. Take it from Rahab and this former pit dweller.