Pocket Sized Thoughts – Joshua – Part 12

Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive.” (6:25)

Hebrews 11:30 tells us that it was by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down. But where was this faith? No-one, not even Joshua stood up and proclaimed victory in the Lord’s Name. We get all kinds of inflated ideas about our own abilities, or our “own faith.” But the faith demonstrated on that day was a faith that was intimately linked to obedience. They fully obeyed the command to walk silently (apart from the trumpets and ram’s horns) around the city until the appointed time came for them to shout. The other thing to note was the continual bearing of the ark – God’s presence was ever-present in all their circulations of the city. Without Him and His presence they could have done nothing. And, there was another kind of faith demonstrated on that day, the saving faith of Rahab. She had received the spies and obediently hung out the scarlet thread from her window to signify where she was. One kind of faith destroyed; another kind saved. Thus, the multi-faceted aspects of faith are demonstrated, lest we get inflated ideas of how faith should work. May God teach us His ways as he did with Joshua – the Lord was with him and everyone knew it (v.27). Joshua’s warnings about re-building Jericho went unheeded (absence of faith) by Hiel, in the days of King Ahab, with the prophesied tragic consequences of the death of his sons (1 Kings 16:34). We are not to rebuild what God has destroyed.

PRAYER :- “Lord, thank you that You save as well as destroy, raise up as well as pull down.”