Courage to StandSample

God’s Heart

We pick up Joshua’s story in chapter 2, where he commissions two spies to go on a dangerous reconnaissance mission to Jericho, a city in the Promised Land. The ensuing events reveal God’s compassion for humanity and His heart as a rescuer.

The Canaanites are a wicked, unrepentant people God has vowed to judge. But among them lives Rahab, a prostitute, who, like everyone else in Jericho, has heard that the Living God is with Israel. Remarkably – in a pagan land – she professes her faith in the one true God, during a conversation with the two spies she’s hiding. In the daring heist carried out by these spies, God mercifully saves Rahab and protects her family. Rahab ends up marrying Salmon of the tribe of Judah and, astoundingly, she’s named in the genealogy of King David and Jesus Christ. Rahab’s salvation shows us God’s love and grace for people from any and every background.

The waves near me at the Cliffs of Moher are often so big that to reach them, surfers are towed out on Jet Skis. Once a Jet Ski driver has dropped off a surfer, they stay nearby, ready to rescue the surfer should they fall. Without quick action, the surfer could get pulled under by the wave or bashed against the rocks. Someone must come to the rescue!

Like the Canaanites, people in our lives are perishing – sinking and drowning in sin – without eternal hope. And God’s heart is that each and every one, like Rahab, be saved. Perhaps it would increase our urgency to share the gospel if we remember we are on a critical rescue mission. We are the Jet Ski drivers, sent to save people. No matter what kind of life someone has lived, it’s God’s great joy to save anyone who believes. Rahab’s story is beautiful proof of this truth. In a world of distractions, may you never lose focus on the part you play in the Great Commission – rescuing others as you have been rescued. And may you continue to be strong and courageous.