Perhaps there is not a single media-savvy soul, who was not concerned in March 2014 about the fate of the missing Malaysian plane that lost its contact with ground control on the early hours of March 8, 2014. Even after a year there has been minimal progress in determining precisely what happened or where the plane with its 239 passengers and crew aboard ended up. Efforts of twenty-six countries, which deployed dozens of aircraft to search for the missing Beijing-bound jet, did not bear any fruit so far.
While human scanning capacities come with serious limitations, there is no such problem in the Divine realm as this comforting Scripture portion blazes forth:
“For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them…” (2 Chro 16:9)
That brings me to the ever-edifying Rahab rehab story, which is a perfect lesson on how those of unwavering faith can never go missing on the Lord’s radar. More simply put, right from the start (in Joshua 2:1) until the end, Rahab’s saga, if anything, proves the fact that the omniscient God was orchestrating the entire sequence of events in order the name of this woman of faith should forever be etched in the annals of Biblical history.
In this series of 4 parts, I would like focus on God’s omniscient benevolence and Rahab’s faith, which as the saying goes “were made for each other…”
Risk 1
If there was no divine compulsion, why would the Leader of the Israeli army, Joshua, send two spies on a special mission “to check out the situation” inside that walled city of Jericho (Joshua 2:1)? Doubtless this was a step fraught with risk, as the only earlier spying mission had boomeranged (Numbers 13 and 14) with tragic consequences resulting in Jacob’s descendents wandering in the desert for 40 long years from the time of their departure from Egypt. We see the Sovereign hand in this move of Joshua, for how else would the two spies encounter this woman of faith without first stepping into that City noted for its Palm trees (Deut 34:3)!!!
Revelation
“For we have HEARD how the Lord made a path through the Red Sea for you when you left Egypt!…your God is the supreme God of heaven, not just an ordinary god.” (Joshua 2:10-11)
Imagine the reaction of the two Jewish spies, when they heard a Gentile woman of questionable character speaking with conviction borne out of reverence and awe of the Almighty God. Her faith had been moulded not so much by “seeing” awe-inspiring acts of might of the Supreme One, but by mere “hearing” of the same. Talk of walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)…
The spies no doubt listened with their eye-brows raised in admiration. For right before them had not their fathers perished for displaying singular lack of trust in their Redeemer God despite “seeing” many a miracle with their own two eyes, right from the time He had “softened up” the hard-hearted Egyptian Pharoah with ten woes (Hebrews 3:16-19)?
Now this distinctive faith of Rahab did not escape the “radar” of the all seeing one whose eyes: “search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them…” No wonder He put the escape plan for Rahab in place and started executing it with precision. In God’s lexicon, the words coincidence or accident would be conspicuous by their absence, for everything happens in the lives of His elected ones by His fore-ordained will. The steps of the two spies once they entered Jericho were led to the house of Rahab and not to any other house…by His Sovereign will. Many years later, that of her would be daughter-in-law, Ruth, too would be led to her son’s field by Divine direction (Ruth 2:1-3). Hey, how many of us know that Rahab was Ruth’s second mother-in-law (Matt 1:6)!!!
Prayer: Father, how we praise You once we realize how You go the extra-mile to save even one precious soul which has faith in You. May our faith in You increase day by day. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Of Rahab and the Lord’s Radar” mini-series, please click here.)