Heaven’s Heroes,
Rahab & the People of God
Heaven’s heroes are people who see a way where there seems to be no way, because faith sees a way through the wilderness of doubt, a way through the waters of despair and a way through the walls of hopelessness.
WHEN THERE IS ONLY FAITH
The people of God found themselves in a no hope situation, they had the Egyptian army in all their power and might coming from behind and in front of them they had the depths of the Red Sea. The people of God were faced with the choice to surrender their lives to slavery once again or to trust in God to be their Saviour.
God at times in our Christian lives will bring us to the place where all we can do is trust in Him. When Peter was locked away in prison all the people of God could was trust in the Lord {Acts 12}, when Jonah was inside the great fish all he could do was trust in the Lord {Jonah 2} and when Paul was about to be shipwrecked he said "I have faith in God" {Acts 27:25}. The Psalmist said "For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life. But I trust in you O Lord, I say "you are my God" {Ps 31:13-14}.
When there is no answer to sickness, or when there is no way out of the pressure of life’s circumstances all we can do is take the advice of Jesus to Jairus "Don’t be afraid; just believe" {Lk 8:50}.
The people of God chose to trust in God in their no hope situation and so are commented for their faith by the writer to the Hebrews. However, the people of God who cross the Red Sea on dry ground must be the saddest example all those listed in Hebrews 11. The people of God by faith escaped the destruction of the Egyptian armies by getting to the other side and seeing God bring the waters down upon them, but once on the other side they returned to their unbelief. The people of God simply wanted the instant answer that they may return to their way of living.
REMOVING THE FAITHLESS
God will not be used and abused by any one and so God in his anger refused to allow these people to enter the promised land. When the people of God were on the verge of entering the promised land they were send back to wonder in the wilderness. It was their disobedience that caused them to miss the delights of God blessings, read Deu 1:26-40 & Heb 3:7-19.
While the people of God wondered in the wilderness God was raising up a new generation from within their ranks to take possession of the promised land. God’s new generation were the children of those who wondered in the wilderness refusing to believe in God. The oldest people to enter the land were Joshua and Caleb who refused to join in the moaning and fears of the faithless people of God.
These faithless people of God were hindering the fulfilment of God’s promise and so God set about removing them that His new generation may advance.
God removed Achan {Jos 7}, God removed King Saul {1Chor 10:13-14} and God removed Ananias and Sapphira {Acts 5:1-11} because their unbelief and sin would hinder the advancement of God’s people.
OBSTACLES TO FAITH
As God’s new generation moved into the promised land they experienced the power and victory of God on their side, they seen the Jordan open up before them and they seen nations fall before them {Jos 3 & 4}. Now however they faced an obstacle that stood in the way of their progress in God, the walls of Jericho and there was little they could do to overcome them {Jos 5:13-6}. But why did the people of God not just simply walk around them and move on ?
Because God was building a principle into the people of God that they should never move to the right or the left of any obstacle that stood in the way of their walk with Him {Num 20:17, Deu 2:27, 5:32, 17:11, 28:14, Jos 1:7}. If they had simply walked around Jericho they would have made room for sin and disobedience in God’s promised land.
As Christians if we walk away from the obstacles that stand in the way of our faith in God, we will never progress in our walk with God. They may be "walls of hurt, disunity, doubt or sin" and until they are overcome we will be at a stand still in our Christian life or we will simply wonder in a spiritual wilderness never entering into God’s promised blessings.
OVERCOMING THE WALLS
How many battles are won by marching around and around, blowing trumpets and shouting. There was one natural, common sense element missing from their battle plan which was ATTACK. The people of God did not have the man power to overcome the walls of Jericho, they were in a no win situation. To overcome the walls required God’s supernatural element which is FAITH. So as the people of God raised their faith God lowered the walls that stood in their way.
When the natural common sense answers don’t seem to be working, then are only hope is to trust in God.
ESCAPING THE WALLS
Within the walls of Jericho lived a pagan prostitute woman called Rahab. Culturally, religiously and socially she was an insignificant outcast deserving of punishment along with the rest of the people of Jericho. However God writes no person off, her whole life had been corrupted by sin, it seemed she was trapped within the walls with no way out and her destiny was death and destruction.
Rahab must have heard about how God lead the Israelites into victory and so unlike the rest of the people of Jericho she believed in God. Rahab seen no security within the walls and so looked to God for a way of escape. Rahab’s only way of escape was to trust in God and not in the security of the walls {Jos 2 & 6}.
If in your life there are "walls" that we cannot overcome or "waters" we cannot cross or a spiritual "wilderness" that seems unending then our only answer is to trust in God.
