5 When What you are Isn’t what they See

It’s just plain easier to put people in a box. I sometimes wish people would behave and just stay in the box I put them in, so I could categorize people that I love and those I hate, those who are “on my team” and those who “aren’t worth my time”.

Oddly enough, people don’t like boxes. They seem to jump ship and end up in boxes that you think they’d never occupy.

For example, a Christian best friend can say the meanest things about you at a Bible-believing event while the unbelieving drunk down the road can be there for you when you’ve lost someone in your family as they stick a homemade (yes, very homemade) card of encouragement in your patio door.

Too close to home? Yeah, I know.

Now, please explain, whose box was whose?

Back Story

Rahab met up with a couple of Israelite guys just prior to the Jericho-wall demolition project. Nobody paid her any mind because she wasn’t accepted in her society so much, except by a certain rough crowd. She was a prostitute.

She was “used to” being used, discarded and used again. She was “used to” abuses of many kinds (can anyone ever really get used to abuse?) and lived as an outsider from the in-crowd.

Except when she met the Israelite men. There was mutual respect. She saved them and they saved her and her family, right back. Life for life (Josh. 2:14)

So, when the victory was in the making, the shout was about to go out after the long march around Jericho, there were clear instructions (Josh. 6:17) about what should be done for Rahab and her family. Why? Because she hung a red rope out the window. That was the sign that the Israeli soldiers and her decided on, that whoever was in her apartment at the time of battle would be saved.

She was remembered.

Finally.

Authentically, remembered, for something more than just… well… her profession.

Safety was just around the corner for her, but she wasn’t sure. Not only that, but her rehab-life got her a new occupation (no longer a prostitute), new name (she got married, and it’s speculated that she married one of the spies she saved) and a new God to define who she was.

Her hope was all tied up in one little red rope.

That red line was the difference between death and life for her and her family. Old life and new life. Beginning and end. Without that red rope, the spies would have been cleared of their oath to protect. However, with it there, it was the responsibility of the spies to honor the agreement they made in chapter 2. In faith, She tied that scarlet line to her house immediately after their departure (Josh 2:17-21).

That red rope was her only hope.

Thoughts

Old handles are hard to put to death. You know how the nickname you got as a kid doesn’t define you as you get older, however, it’s just super hard to shake? In Josh chapter 6, Rehab is referred to by her occupation 3 times. It’s true, but it hurts. However, she is redefined and is referenced 3 times with the same name but with a new identity in the New Testament. She is announced as being faithful (Heb. 11:31), righteous (James 2:25) and as part of one of Jesus’ ancestors, no less (Matt. 1:5).

So, what’s your commentary on other people? Are you working with their old handles or one of God’s handiwork name tags for them? It may be wise to think of them the way God does, so you can be assured of being on the winning side.

So, who do people say YOU are? Is it true? Or does God want you to know a deeper truth – one that He is putting into your heart, defining who you are by how He sees you?

Oh Darling, you have a new identity in Jesus. Never ever forget that. Hang on to that with all your heart. That’s who you are. That’s your rightful name.

Red lines matter. What red lines are you waiting on? What red ropes have you been hanging out your window in faith. Have your walls been shaking? Have you heard the yelling outside your door, that scares the ever-living daylights out of you, wondering if it will overwhelm you and over take you?

Red lines matter – so much so, that the Israelites had to paint red lines on their door lintels and doorposts with blood to save them from death when they left Egypt (Ex. 12:7). So much so, that Jesus painted the cross with the red lines of his blood as an offering of the best He has for us – His very life. So much so, that we can take those red lines and paint them on the inside of our heart and mind and cling to them with all hope, when our world is shaking.

Red lines matter because there’s a lot of responsibility in that red rope. Rahab was responsible to accept the terms and conditions of the rescue mission and the sign of her acceptance was to hang the red rope. It was the spies responsibility to see that red rope and honor their word.

However, there were a few strikes against her, that may have been poking at her gut at the time:

1. She was a prostitute. Many times she must have had people tell her she was a waste of skin. Why would anyone save her? STRIKE
2. She was a female. What use could she be in a start-up nation. STRIKE
3. She was a Canaanite. Hers was a despised race, soon to be conquered and killed by the ones supposedly going to save her. How unlikely was that? STRIKE
4. She made a deal with spies, not the leader of the conquering army. Who knows if they really going to honor the agreement or just save their own skin. (remember, she does not have a good history with people treating her kindly. Trust must have been a huge issue for her). STRIKE
5. She was an outsider, and Israelites were strictly forbidden to mix with outsiders. Who knew if they wouldn’t kill her when she arrived at base camp. STRIKE
6. She knew her god wouldn’t/couldn’t save her. She had to trust in an unknown God, who knew if he was merciful or not… STRIKE

Yet, she trusted.

She had no choice.

But yet she trusted and hoped…with all her heart. She refused to stay in the box that people put her in…that she thought she had to occupy. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she could trust God for a way to walk out of that box and into the freedom that He offered. But… she did.

Red lines matter. Leave the box you live in. Put your red rope out and hang it on your heart, so that your Savior can see your faith and honor it with all the love in the world. He has eyes of compassion and is proud of you. He sees the effort you are putting in to trust when trusting is just THAT hard. He wants to be your hero. He wants you to look at him and expect him to do the saving. He wants to save you from your sin, from your circumstances, and maybe from yourself.

Hang out your red rope today. Jesus will see it and respond with all his heart and power on your behalf.

PS Happy Mothers Day, Rahab. You were King David’s Great Great Grandmother, who brought us… Jesus. I bet you had no idea how life would turn out the day you put out your red rope…