God revealed to Jeremiah His plan to destroy Jerusalem; He
would scatter His rebellious, disobedient chosen people but would one day
restore the city and bring His people back. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
By Rahab’s testimony, the two men Joshua sent to spy out the
land of Jericho learned the inhabitants were terrified of the Israelites
because their “God of heaven and earth” had dried a path through the Red Sea
for them as they fled Egypt. Rahab knew she and all the townspeople were facing
destruction, so she hid the spies and asked them to spare her family. The men told
her to hang a scarlet cord from the window and gave Rahab their word of safety
for her household (Joshua 2–6). Because Rahab the prostitute did as instructed,
she and all her relatives were unharmed (Joshua 6:22–23). Nothing
is too hard for the Lord.
Rahab accepted the God of the Israelites as her God, and her
life drastically changed. This once-upon-a-time prostitute married a man named
Salmon and gave birth to a son named Boaz. Boaz, a godly man, married a Moabite
woman named Ruth who embraced the God of Naomi, her mother-in-law, as her God.
Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son
named David. David became king of God’s people. Jesus, Son of God, is from the
lineage of King David. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
Rahab was a most unlikely role model and least likely to find
in the genealogy of Christ, which spanned hundreds of years—but was one of the
few women mentioned in that genealogy. On that page of biblical history, God’s
Word refers to Rahab as the wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz, not Rahab, the
prostitute. Rahab was the great, great, great, great, great, really
great-grandmother of the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of the
living God. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
Do you have a child for whom you have been praying? Do you
know someone least likely to be a role model or bears an unattractive label? Instead
of acting as a judge, pray for that one. You have no idea what God is up to in others’
lives. Remember Rahab. Remember: Nothing is too hard for the Lord our God.
Beautiful
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