What you do for others will be done for you!
”Our lives for your lives”! Joshua 2:14
Rahab is one of my favourite biblical characters, she and her family were rescued from Jericho just before its total destruction by Israel, the only ones to be shown mercy.
She hid the two spies on her roof and covered them with stalks of flax. She talked to the spies on the roof before they lay down for the night. ‘I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us(she encouraged the spies and they later reported her words to Joshua, v24)’. Rahab was one of the Gentiles in the Bible who understood the true God, ‘for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below’.
Rahab and her family were soon under siege and closed up(much like today’s lockdown) by Israel’s army. She began to speak to these men and contend for the lives of her whole family. ‘Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare their lives(she made the spies swear by the Lord and give her a sign, scarlet cord)’. There are times when we can ask Heaven for the things that we want, especially for the future of those we love.
It wasn’t only Rahab’s words that won her the lives of her family, but her actions. She let the spies down through a window and told them to hide in the mountains for three days until the search for them was over.
“In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction”. James 2:25
Rahab was decisive and had a boldness to ask for something that seemed contrary to God’s will for the people of Jericho. I believe that there are some Rahabs today who need to claim the lives of people ‘they know’, who aren’t living or thinking righteously. God loves bold requests from His children and is willing to answer in the most surprising ways!
Remember, what you do for others will be done for you.
God bless and keep you.