Our series continues with another unlikely person showing up big time for God. This true story just confirms once again that it’s never who you think it will be. Those individuals who are overlooked and undervalued by past or current cultures are the very ones chosen by God for His extraordinary, eternal purposes. Such is our mystery person today. A most unlikely candidate for sure due to many things such as living in a pagan culture, being poor, having no power or influence and being engaged in a very disreputable lifestyle – all things that would seemingly disqualify someone in God’s eyes. BUT – that is not the case. That is not true. Remember –

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Must be why it’s never who you think it will be – God sees things we don’t see. God knows things we don’t know. And our Creator, God, sees and knows each one of us clearly and completely. So while God’s choices of the people He calls into His service may surprise you and me, (it’s never who we think) – it’s always exactly who God knows is the right person for the task and indeed who He has chosen “for such a time as this.”

Today’s unlikely hero is not a hero at all, but a heroine. That’s right – she’s a female, which makes her all the more unlikely because females in Old Testament times had no power or position or ownership in society. Women were overlooked, undervalued and definitely underestimated. Such was the case with our unlikely heroine. Why would I never guess that this particular woman would be chosen by God?

Would it be because she lived among a pagan people in an idol worshipping city? Would it be because she earned her living as a prostitute? Why would I never have predicted that this woman would become a part of the earthly lineage of Jesus? That’s right – this woman is listed in Jesus’s earthly genealogy found in the book of Matthew.

“Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. . . . and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” (Matthew 1:5-6, 16)

Our unlikely heroine is Rahab, a prostitute living in the city of Jericho before it was destroyed by the Israelite army. Rahab played an instrumental role in Jericho’s demise. First she hid the two Israelite spies who had come into the city to look over the land. Rahab lied to the king of Jericho about the spies rather than give the spies up to be captured and killed. She then helped the two Israelite spies to escape the city and gave them information to help them avoid capture.

“So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Now she had said to them, ‘Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.’ ” (Joshua 2:15-16)

Rahab risked everything to help the Israelite spies. If the king found out that she helped the spies and that she lied to him about them, she would be killed. Rahab showed great courage and faith. She knew Jericho was going to be destroyed and she asked the spies to save her life and the lives of all her family members. Rahab had heard about the God who parted the Red Sea and she believed in Him even though no one else around her did. This faith gave Rahab the courage to go against Jericho’s king and to help the two Israelite men. In return, they would rescue Rahab and her family when they returned to conquer the city.

“Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, ‘I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt . . . for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you.’ ” (Joshua 2:8-12)

Rahab risked her life to help the spies because she believed that their God was “God in heaven above and on the earth below.” Her faith gave her the courage she needed to defy Jericho’s king, and her faith allowed her to trust that the spies would keep their word and rescue her and her family. And indeed, it did happen as promised.

“Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.’ So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. Then they burned the whole city and everything in it . . . But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.” (Joshua 6:22-25)

A pagan prostitute, Rahab, became a woman of faith and of courage because she believed in the God of the Israelites, the God of heaven above and on the earth below. Rahab was rescued from certain destruction and death. She was instead delivered into a new life – a life in which she was chosen to be in the lineage of the coming King, God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

What a miracle! What a transformation! The unlikely heroine of this story is Rahab the prostitute. What courage she showed. What faith she had in order to act against all odds because she believed in the Creator, God, whom she had only heard about at the time when she stepped up to aid the spies even though it meant death for her if she were caught. Just goes to show you – it’s never who you or I think. BUT – like the apostle Paul said –

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’ ” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

it’s never who you think – today it might be you! Be ready to answer God’s call!

sincerely, Grace Day