SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 103:8 (NIV)
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (NIV)
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

DEVO:

When I study the book of Ruth, I can’t help but be impressed with Boaz. This man is full of character, integrity, and compassion, clearly being held up as an Old Testament archetype of Jesus himself. And yet he was a man, a human with faults and flaws like each of us. I’m sure he struggled with his share of doubts and fears. What then provoked him to stick his neck out for Ruth when the other Kinsman Redeemer thought it too big of a risk? What gave him the assurance that things would turn out ok if he aligned himself with God’s promises and sacrificial character rather than succumbing to the fear and self-preservation that pervades the narrative of this world? What influenced him to trust God’s story?

I believe scripture provides us a little clue as to what, or in this case who, may have influenced Boaz. Matthew 1 gives us a genealogy (a list of names) that highlight the descendents from Abraham to Jesus. I hope by this point in the week you’ve come to realize that there are treasures of insight buried every time we see a name or a location in scripture, and long lists of names are certainly no exception. Within this 28 generation list, we see only 5 women highlighted. This is because in ancient times records of family trees were patriarchal, meaning they only listed the men’s names. So the writer here, Matthew, is purposefully trying to draw the readers’ attention to the women in this list and subsequently their stories. One of these women we see highlighted is Boaz’s mom -- Rahab.

If you know the story of Rahab, you know it’s a difficult one to grapple with, namely because she is the sole survivor of an entire people group that are wiped out during God’s judgement on the tribes and nations that previously occupied the Promised Land. I don’t have the time to get into the theological implications of why God would command his people to commit an entire city to the sword, but in short I’ve chosen to trust what the full narrative of scripture communicates to me -- that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love (Psalm 103:8-11). And that there are situations in scripture where entire groups of people have chosen not to be wooed into God’s love but instead have consistently turned their back on Him, wanting nothing to do with His provision and protection, choosing instead to go their own way and forge their own path. Because they have chosen to adopt an animosity toward God and His people, God eventually decides He has had enough and exacts judgement. We see this occasionally in the Old Testament and it is the same storyline that hovers above Rahab’s personal story. 

In Joshua chapter 2, God commands Joshua, the leader of His people at that time, to send two spies into the city of Jericho to scout things out. He’s been given instructions by God that this is to be the first city that is laid to waste en route to taking possession of the Promised Land. Just like in our own personal stories, God has promised to each of us that victory over sin, corruption, and our trying circumstances are within our grasp, but He’s invited us to become active participants and take hold of that victory by applying his truth and principles to our lives. Only then can he bring about healing and restore us into purpose. 

So the spies enter the city and begin taking down their findings. As dusk begins to fall over the city, they seek somewhere to take shelter, someone who would be friendly to the people and purposes of God, someone who would open their heart and home.

This is where Rahab steps in. Somehow she crosses paths with the spies and offers to let them find safe hiding in her home.

Now this would make a lot of sense if Rahab was an upstanding citizen, a woman of virtue and honor. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this plotline if we knew Rahab was one who was always seeking to do the right thing and already had some of the imprint of God’s character on her heart. But Rahab is perhaps the last person anyone would think would be invited into God’s redemptive story. Because, you see, Rahab made a living selling her body for sex. She was a prostitute. 

Nevermind the questions I have as to why Rahab, a prostitute, intersected with these spies, the most important thing to ask is how did Rahab make it out alive? What we know of this story is that everyone else is killed when the Israelites attack Jericho. You may know the story. Joshua and the people march around the city one time each day for six days. On the seventh day, they march around the city seven times, let out a great shout, and the walls of the city fall down. The Israelites rush into this now susceptible city and lay claim to it, killing the enemies of God. What’s remarkable about this, however, is that Rahab’s home was in the wall of this city and she and her family were unharmed.

In order to understand this, we have to jump back into the dialogue between her and the spies. While they are seeking shelter in her home, soldiers of the city come and knock on her door looking for these two men who have been reported for suspiciously meandering around the city streets. At this moment Rahab has a decision to make. Does she align herself with God’s plan and purposes and help the two spies escape or does she align herself with the enemies of God and turn them in?

This is the same decision each of us have to make. The theme for the week is alignment. Will we align ourselves with God’s story? Will we position ourselves to receive the mercy and grace that God wants to bring into our lives? And the encouraging distinction between Rahab and Ruth is that Rahab brought much of her life’s troubles on herself by the sinful choices she made. She would have been one of those whom we would have seen as “too far gone” because of the mistakes that plagued her past. But I can’t help but believe that as she stood there rifling through the potential consequences for covering for the spies, God whispered something to her that was greater than her past mistakes or her present mess. He spoke to her about her future potential. And in that moment she chose to align herself with God and his purposes and this made all the difference for her and her family.

She lowered a scarlet cord out of her window and allowed the spies to escape to safety. The spies later told the people of Israel not to harm the home that was marked with this rope dyed a deep red hue. I hope the significance of the color of the rope isn’t lost on you. Scarlet. A little more than fourteen hundred years later a man named Jesus would shed scarlet blood so that those of us who were originally marked for destruction could walk in freedom and redemption. 

What strikes me about Rahab’s story is that she is a shining example of God’s ability to take someone who has wandered so far away from Him, invite her too into a powerful redemptive story, and restore glorious purpose. All she had to do is open up the door of her home and then open the door of her heart. 

Can you relate to Rahab? Do you feel like you’ve wondered too far from God that rescue and redemption can’t be in the cards for you? Do you feel like your mistakes have disqualified you from seeing the fullness of what God has for you? Take heart, friend. Jesus stepped into a messy storyline two thousand years ago to show us that He’s willing to step into our messy story too if we’ll only open up the door and let Him in. 

I wonder how many fireside chats Rahab and Boaz had growing up. I wonder how much Boaz was privy to his mom’s past, her story, and her testimony. I wonder if what provoked Boaz to risk his neck for Ruth that day was the visual assurance he had that God honors those who sacrifice in order to align themselves with His purposes. And that somehow He’s able to weave a story of salvation and redemption into their lives as a sweet reminder of His unending grace.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. In what ways can you align yourself and your story with God’s purposes? What would that look like practically in your current circumstances? 

2. How have you wandered away from God? How has God stepped in to offer you rescue and redemption?

PRAYER:

Lord, thank you so much for being a redemptive Father. I thank You for stepping in to claim me when the enemy left me for loss. I pray that the stories I read about in scripture of how You restored even the most broken of situations wouldn’t just be inspiring anecdotes from thousands of years ago, but that You would make those stories part of my current reality. Help me to know what it looks like to align my life to the redemptive work You’re doing in this world and in me.