SATURDAY 24th
Joshua 2
This second chapter of Joshua opens up to us another story of espionage as Joshua who was once a spy himself decides to send two spies to ‘Go and view the land, especially Jericho’, and it also introduces us to an unlikely character in God’s story – a prostitute! (‘And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.’v1) I touched on unlikely characters in a previous devotion, where we discovered that God will use whosoever he chooses to use to bring about his plan and purpose, and this prostitute was one of them and she is even afforded a space in the record of the heroes of faith in the book of Hebrews, ‘By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.’ (Hebrews 11:31)
It is important to note that just because God chose to use Rahab, it doesn’t means that the lifestyle she lived was okay, it wasn’t and in the New Testament we have the encounter recorded in Scripture of another woman who was caught in adultery and after being brought before Jesus, we discover that he first challenges those who brought her to be punished with the words, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’ and one by one they walked away. He then says to the woman, ‘Where are they? Has no one condemned you? To which she replied, ‘No one, Lord.’ The next words of Jesus are very important, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, AND FROM NOW ON SIN NO MORE.’ Her lifestyle was unacceptable, and Jesus tells her it cannot and must not continue after her encounter with him. Any form of sinful lifestyle is unacceptable before God, yet he chose to use Rahab, why? Maybe she was the only person in the town that would be willing to accept the spies (after all they were men!) maybe despite her lifestyle, God also knew that she was a person with whom he could entrust the lives of the spies with, maybe this experience would be the means in which God would change this woman’s life around and she herself would be a person of faith in a personal God. Maybe, because of this encounter it would lead toward the next step in the people of Israel being able to conquer the land! Whatever the reasons we may conjure up God was involved, and God chose to use her.
We often sing a song ‘God can do anything, anything, anything . . . God can do anything but fail . . .’ perhaps we should sometimes sing ‘God can use anyone, anyone, anyone . . .’ after all, he is God and he has decreed his eternal plan and within that decree he will choose whomsoever he will to bring it about.
The wonder of it all is that God can choose to use us, and even more of a wonder he has chosen to use me! Now, I am not condoning that anyone despite their lifestyle can be used within the setting of the Church, not at all, after all we who make up the Church are those who have been redeemed, washed in the blood, called to be holy, and therefore within the setting of Christian service, there are certain standards that need to be applied. I am talking in a more general sense, talking of the course of human history and in particular of God bringing about his overall eternal purpose which involves both the secular and the spiritual for he is the one who is Sovereign over all things. It may be that God will sometimes use unbelievers or a secular setting to bring about his purpose for us in our lives! I have mentioned before that my trade was as a panel beater and vehicle refinisher, I loved the job, enjoyed the work and would have been happy to have spent the whole of my working life in that environment and yet it was within that environment with what I would say was an ungodly setting, God used people and circumstances to eventually bring me to where I am today, and why? Because he is God, and he can use whatsoever and whosoever he wishes to use to bring his plans into fruition. It doesn’t have to be a person, may even be a sickness, or some form of suffering, it may be a circumstance, it may be . . . whatever God chooses to use, the important thing is that we see in everything the hand of God, leading us, guiding us and bringing to fruition his will and purpose.
Immediately after I had prepared this devotion I had a phone call from a friend from North Wales, we often have chats about theological issues, and we were discussing the Sovereignty of God and in particular his right to choose whoever and whatever he wills, he mentioned a couple of Scriptures so I add them here.
1 Chronicles 29:11–12 ‘Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.’
Psalm 135:6 ‘Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.’