A Promise Kept

A Promise Kept

Rahab

Read: Joshua 6:1-25

The elderly woman sat in front of her house, her eyes fixed on the dirt road that wound toward the village. She smiled as she fingered the well-worn note in her pocket. Eight years had passed since her son had left for America in search of a better life. People in the village predicted that he would forget his promise to come back for her, but she knew better. Suddenly, she noticed a cloud of dust in the distance.

Rahab didn’t have to wait long to see if the spies would keep their promise. Less than a month after the spies’ visit, all of Jericho watched the Israelite forces silently march around the walled city. For six days, Rahab’s family huddled together in her house, watching and wondering what would happen. Nothing could have prepared them for the dramatic events of the seventh day. When the Israelites shouted, Rahab must have watched in amazement as the thick, fortified walls fell flat. Was the section that included her house left standing? She must have still been stunned as the two former spies escorted her family to safety.

God’s children live with a promise more powerful than the one that Rahab clung to as she waited for the attack on Jericho. We have God’s pledge that someday we will begin glorious new lives with him that will last forever. We can get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget that this earth is marked for destruction. Although God desires everyone to come to him, he will eventually judge the world for rejecting him, just as he judged Jericho when its time had come. We don’t know when this will happen, but no matter how bad things get, we have God’s promise that he will one day escort us to safety.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Hebrews 10:23