In Hebrews 11 (Sorry but I cant type Hebrews without thinking of the coffee Brian brews for me – I digress) There is a story of a woman named Rahab. She wasn’t just a prostitute hiding in the shadows trying to scrape a living, she was a high profile call girl known to hang out her window and do cat calls at the men passing below. She was damaged goods, she knew it and she charged highly for it.
But something changed for her. Maybe it had always been there and she covered it up, but perhaps it was just a spark of a moment. She needed to believe that she was more than the nights that left gold on her dresser. She needed to believe that she was more than the woman who never woke up with the man she laid down. She needed, more than anything, to believe that her heart and soul was worth far more than she had ever charged for her body.
In a moment out of character for her, she hid spies in her boudoir. Not to seduce them, not to use them, but because there was something about them in the way they treated her that made her believe that she just might be worth it. These men were from the enemy and made no secret that they were going to destroy her city which would seriously cramp her way of making a living.
They made a deal though. To repay her for her kindness and discretion (which was not a word she flexed often) she would hang a scarlet cord outside her window to signal that she wanted to be saved and she trusted they would save her.
I can imagine her the night before. She probably held that red cord in her hands and wondered if it was all true. Would all these soldiers actually be true to their word? I can see her pacing her room knowing how she had been lied to in the past. Being a prostitute she had probably heard men whisper “I love you and I want you” more times than she could count. But she knew those were lies whispered in passion, was this time going to be different? Should she really stick her neck out and bare her very soul?
The whole town would be destroyed and because of her mistakes and failures she was no better than any of them. Why shouldn’t she burn with the others? Nothing made her special. She had no reason to be treated with love and respect. Yet, here she was holding a red rope that required her to have trust in strangers and ultimately hope in herself being worth being saved.
Have you been there before? Holding that red cord that signifies that you are worth it? That you should be saved? Have you wondered what made you so special that you could throw it out your window and wait for salvation to come? Have you packed it back in your trunk and decided to just succumb to the definition of who you are and what all you have done?
She took a wild chance and bared her soul. She cast her scarlet cord out and waited to see if she was truly worth it. We know from the story that she was indeed saved along with those she allowed into her chambers. She was brought back to the enemy’s camp, clothed and fed. If we read even farther we discover that Jesus is actually part of her lineage.
This woman who shamelessly flaunted her sin ended up being part of the birth line that Christ came from.
All because of her willingness to ignore what she believed of herself and take the chance that she was worth so much more than her definition and her past. She had a choice to ignore the promises of love and wants, because of what she believed of them as she heard them whispered in the heat of the moment by strangers. But the strangers whispered love and want of a God that saw her as blameless and worth of a love that looked at what he knew her soul and purpose in this life would be.
Are you holding your scarlet cord tightly and wondering what would happen if you let it go and dared this one time to believe past your hurt, your fears and your belief in what you think you are?
Throw it out your window. Salvation will come. You will not be destroyed or ignored. Your willingness will be worth it and it will be rewarded by a forgiveness and love beyond your comprehension.
Let it go. It only takes one time. Release it past your personal prison and help will come.
Categories: Faith
A Catch Is A Catch 
And The Dogs Triumphantly Returned As Predicted 
The Bad, The Good And The Forgiven 
Beauty Coupled With Courage – Esther 
Alycia Neighbours 
Welcome back. And what a beautiful post to come back with! I have to tell you that I find myself comparing my past to Rahab’s and what you said struck a cord with me. I’ve recently come under judgment for something I posted on Facebook that involved tallying up the “money” for the things listed. In and of itself it was innocent, our human nature to turn things dirty making it something it really wasn’t. Even though I used it as a testimony, offering thanks and gratitude that I had a Father who loved me despite my past, someone decided that I was unfit to hold babies in the nursery during Sunday morning church service. I know God has something great lined up for me. He’s already done so much over the past year. I need to hang that cord out the window again.
Oh love , how I have missed you.
I am delighted that there is no longer a silent space where your voice is supposed to live and ring true! Love you girl!
Beth recommended I come read this because I am also studying Rahab right now for her Walking in Faith series. SO GLAD I dropped back. I am not sure I can say this any better than you have. What I have been discovering is that often “unworthy”…….it’s completely different from being “worthless”. One we are most certainly; the other we are Not. If we all could only see with the eyes of the Father.
Even more importantly, there is no such thing as “unworthy” or “worthless” when we look beyond our human eyes. He loves us far from our space through his grace.
Rahab (and others I will be covering this month) are examples of how we can reach past our human situation and believe in an incomprehensible love. We can take those few seconds of scary faith and do something spiritually scandalous for our Father to reach out and save us.