Hanging By A Thread

Have you ever felt like you just can't make it through another day?  Are you barely hanging on financially, relationally, emotionally or spiritually, and feeling like the ground underneath you is about to give way?  Are you at the end of your rope and barely hanging by a thread?  Then you have something in common with Rahab.  She is listed in the genealogy of Jesus (Matt. 1:5), and she is also listed as one of the Heroes of Faith in Hebrews Eleven.   You can read her story in Joshua 2:1-24. 

These are some of the elements that characterized Rahab's dire circumstances.  Her life was literally hanging by a thread:

·         she was on the brink of financial disaster

·         she was about to lose her entire family

·         she was consumed by emotional distress

·         she was spiritually bankrupt and in need of rescue

After the death of Moses, God choose Joshua, to be the leader of the Israelite people. They set about to conquer the land of Canaan, under the Lord's guidance. God said to Joshua, "Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9, NIV).

Spies from the Israelites snuck into the walled city of Jericho and ended up staying at the house of Rahab, a prostitute.  Rahab had heard about the God of Israel, and she had heard about him giving the kings of the Amorites into the hands of Israel (2:10).  Because of what she had heard she came to the conclusion that the God of Israel was "God in heaven above and on earth beneath"(2:11)  She believed that the land of Canaan had already been given by God to the people of Israel, and she believed all the things that she had heard about God.

Rahab had chosen to have faith in the God of Israel, so she hid the spies from the king's soldiers. When the time was right, she helped the spies escape out a window and down a rope, since her house was built on top of the city wall. Rahab made the spies swear an oath. She promised not to give their plans away, and in return they swore to spare Rahab and her family when the battle of Jericho began. She was to tie a scarlet cord in her window as a sign of their protection.

Faced with insurmountable odds, Rahab refused to allow her circumstances, her gender or her profession to define who she was.  Instead, she looked out of her window of opportunity, and she took a leap of faith into the unknown.   She embraced her future as she held unto that redemptive cord, and all the elements that had just been causing her dire distress, were now under her feet.

Whatever your dire circumstances are today, I want to remind you of  the words of our Savior.  Jesus said, "all things are possible to him who believes.”(Mark 9:23 ESV)  God is the one who can turn every impossible thing into a possibility.  As citizens of heaven, we have access to a domain that is "out of this world." 

God has designed a possibility to fit your present circumstance.  This is your Canaan and He is trying to move you into a new place in the Spirit.  Faith is the currency that allows us to see God and interact with heaven.   So grab hold of this redemptive thread and REMEMBER...you have the promises of Jesus, you have the nature of God, and you have the power of the Holy Spirit.  One person walking with God is always in the majority, no matter what the odds are. 

Look at your present circumstance the way that Rahab did, and know that this is your window of opportunity to encounter that perfect love that will cast out all fear (1 John 4:18).  Allow faith to arise inside of you right now so that you can overcome, because He is with you!  This is your defining moment...