Perspective: From Humility to Honor

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

From Humility to Honor

Scripture:

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

James 4:10 (CEB)

How can this be?
A love so unfailing
Reached down and lifted me
From ashes to beauty

And You invite me in
Doesn't matter where I've been
Your arms are open wide
There's nothing left to hide

From "You Invite Me In" by Meredith Andrews

After God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, they spent a long time traveling through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Forty years later, they finally reached the land promised to their ancestors. When Moses died, a man named Joshua was charged with the task of leading the Israelites in a series of battles against the inhabitants of the land. The Book of Joshua tells the story of Israel's conquest of the Promised Land. Parts of the Bible like this can be hard to read, disturbing, and even shocking at times, but even in the Book of Joshua, in the midst of destruction and wholesale slaughter, there is a story of salvation, redemption, and mercy.

Before leading Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Joshua decides to send out two spies on a reconnaissance mission to the fortified city of Jericho. After entering the city, the two end up in the house of a prostitute named Rahab.¹ Word reaches the king of Jericho that Israelite spies have entered the city, so he sends some of his men to Rahab's house. Rahab hides the two spies on the roof under stalks of flax and lies to the king's men, telling them that the spies have already left the city. The men then leave Jericho in search of the two Israelites.

Rahab then tells the spies that word has spread about how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them the victory in a previous battle. She knows that God will also give them the victory when they attack Jericho, so she begs the two spies to spare her life and the lives of her family. Since Rahab protected the spies from the authorities, they swear on their lives that she and her family will be spared as long as she keeps the Israelites' plans a secret.

Rahab lives in a house that was built into the city wall, so she helps the two escape the city through a window. The spies then instruct her to gather her whole family into her house when the Israelites attack and to hang in her window the same rope with which she helped them escape. When the two spies return to base, they report to Joshua that the people of the land are afraid of the Israelites.²

The Israelites cross the Jordan River and prepare to attack Jericho. When the time to attack comes, the Israelites march around the city with the Ark of the Covenant while the priests blow trumpets.³ This happens once a day for six days. On the seventh day, the Israelites march around the city seven times. After the seventh time, the people shout and blow trumpets, and the city walls miraculously fall. The Israelite army then proceeds to kill all people and livestock in the city. Because Rahab had protected the two spies, she and her family are spared and welcomed into the community of the Israelites.⁴

I do not want to sugarcoat Rahab's story, because I think it is very powerful. Rahab was a prostitute, a person who makes a living by having sex with strangers. Some theorize that she may have been a cult prostitute, one who performed sex acts as part of religious rituals. Others think she was simply trying to provide for her family, considering her concern for her family's safety. Many people go into prostitution because they believe that it is the only way they can provide for themselves and for their families. Perhaps this was the case for Rahab.⁵

Regardless of the circumstances that led Rahab down this road, her profession does not seem to matter very much in the eyes of God. Not only are Rahab and her family spared during the razing of Jericho and welcomed among the Israelites, Rahab is also honored throughout the Bible as a hero and as a woman of great faith.

The eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews is often called the "Hall of Faith." In this chapter we read about the faith of people like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samson, and King David. Near the end of this chapter we read the following:
By faith Jericho’s walls fell after the people marched around them for seven days.
By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn’t killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace.⁶
St. James, in his letter, honors Rahab as a righteous woman who not only had great faith but lived out her faith in her actions.⁷

Rahab's recognition in these two letters is not the most profound way in which she has been honored. Rahab married an Israelite named Salmon, and the two had a son named Boaz. Boaz married a woman named Ruth. Boaz and Ruth had a grandson named Jesse. Jesse had a son named David who would become the king of Israel. The most famous descendant of King David is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who redeemed humanity when He died on the cross and arose from the dead.⁸ In this way, God included Rahab in His plan for our salvation.

People, especially Christians, like to cast judgment on women like Rahab. Many of us would look on her with disgust for the type of life she led, but God sees people so much better than we do. While society would see her as an undesirable element, God sees her as a woman of great faith and heroism. St. James writes, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." This is exactly what Rahab did. Rahab knew that God was real and that His hand of protection was on the Israelites. She humbled herself before God when she protected the spies, when she acknowledged her belief in God, and when she pleaded for her family's safety. God then lifted her up from a place of disgrace to a place of honor.

When I consider Rahab's story, I cannot help but think about what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day: "I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you."⁹ On another occasion He said, "Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do... I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners."¹⁰

Jesus did not come into the world for people who think that they're good. Jesus came into the world for people who know that they're bad and cry out desperate for redemption. Christ came to seek and to save people who made bad choices in life like Rahab and the unnamed woman who washed Christ's feet with her tears.¹¹ He came to seek and to save people like Matthew and Zacchaeus who sold out and took jobs as tax collectors for an evil empire.¹² He came to seek and to save people like the prodigal son who waste everything and come home with nothing but brokenness.¹³ He came to seek and to save people like the terrorist who was crucified beside Him and asked for salvation.¹⁴

We need to remember that we are all in the same boat as Rahab: we are all lost, helpless little sheep. We need to remember that we all in desperate need of God's saving and transforming grace. We all need to humble ourselves in the sight of God and to let Him lift us up.


Notes:
1 - Go figure.
2 - To read the story of Rahab and the two spies in its entirety, see Joshua 2.
3 - The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God's covenant with Israel. It contained, among other items, the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written.
4 - To read about the Battle of Jericho in its entirety, see Joshua 6.
5 - Dr. Gary Thompson. "God Protects", Adult Bible Studies Summer 2011. Cokesbury. p. 22
6 - Hebrews 11:30-31 (CEB)
7 - James 2:24-26
8 - Matthew 1:1-17
9 - Matthew 21:31 (CEB)
10 - Matthew 9:11-12 (CEB)
11 - Luke 7:36-50
12 - Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 19:1-10
13 - Luke 15
14 - Luke 23:39-43


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.

Introspection: This Winding Path

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.


This Winding Path

Scripture:

Tell me all about Your faithful love
come morning time
because I trust You.
Show me the way I should go
because I offer my life up to You.

Psalm 143:8 (CEB)

We cannot separate
You're part of me
And though You're invisible
I'll trust the unseen

From "Never Alone" by BarlowGirl

A few weeks ago, in response to increasing stress in my life, I decided that I needed to make more of an effort to observe a Sabbath day every week. I decided that I would work harder to get my work done during the week so that, on Saturday, I can put aside all work and "supposed-to's" of life and simply rest and enjoy the day.¹ Since then, I have found myself dissatisfied with how I spend Saturday: typically I sleep too late and don't do enough to enjoy the day. On one Saturday I even broke down and wrote a blog post.

One other thing I have noticed since my decision to take a sabbath is that, on Sunday, I have been paying more attention to spiritual disciplines: going to church services, reading books of a spiritual nature, and going for long walks to gather my thoughts, for example. I have found that, even if Saturday is a letdown, Sunday is refreshing.

I was introduced to a new spiritual discipline nearly six years ago: praying while walking through a labyrinth. Originally expecting some sort of maze, I learned that a prayer labyrinth consists of a single winding, non-branching path that leads to a center area.² I have walked through a labyrinth at least twice in the past, but I didn't get much out of it because I didn't really understand what it all meant. My pastor recently mentioned a prayer labyrinth in a sermon, and from her I learned that, on my way to the center, I should let go of the things that are weighing me down inside. In the center, I should just spend time in the presence of God. On my way out, I should receive whatever God offers to me on my way back into the world.

My favorite place to walk is Furman University, my Alma Mater. Furman has a prayer labyrinth behind its chapel, and last Sunday, with my new understanding of the purpose of the labyrinth, I decided to walk through it before walking around the campus. I think I was seeking some sort of guidance or some peace of mind after a bad week.


When I arrived, I removed my shoes and socks and emptied my pockets.³ As I walked into the labyrinth, I asked God for forgiveness for my failures and for help with my struggles. I also tried to push out thoughts of leaving my shoes and personal effects unguarded, of getting sunburned, and of my current hopes and fears in my life. In the center, I knelt down on my knees as if in the presence of God. I saw the grass and bricks beneath me and felt the hot sun above me. I heard sounds of bicycles and cars and heard organ music from the chapel. I ended my time in the center by whispering the Lord's Prayer. As I walked out of the labyrinth I held out my hands, palms up, as if to receive whatever God was offering me.

As you can probably tell, I haven't exactly mastered the practice of walking a prayer labyrinth or of simply being still and knowing I'm in the presence of God. I am hoping, though, to improve on these things through practice. I remembered something a friend who works in chaplaincy said about Communion: we don't really know what's going on when we share the bread and the wine, but we trust that God is somehow present in it all. Perhaps the same is true for my experience in the prayer labyrinth: though I don't really know what I was doing, I can trust that God was somehow present in my experience.⁴

I guess my experience in the prayer labyrinth is much like my experience in life. Just as I didn't really know what I was doing in the labyrinth, I don't really know what I'm doing in life. And just as I don't really understand certain spiritual practices, I don't really understand God. Despite my lack of understanding, I must trust that God is journeying with me as I navigate the labyrinth that is my life.

I believe that God has spoken to me in very tangible ways in the past, but the fact that God doesn't seem to respond in such a way immediately every time I ask Him does not mean that He is not present or that He does not care.⁵ I must have faith in God to guide me through the dark, scary, and uncertain twists and turns of my life.


Notes:
1 - See my introspection "Balancing Act."
2 - Wikipedia: "Labyrinth"
3 - Nobody said that I had to do this; it just seemed right. See Exodus 3:5.
4 - After all, God did give me something to reflect on and to blog about.
5 - To be honest, I have also been reflecting on the BarlowGirl song quoted above. Listen to the song and read the lyrics. This song is very good and very honest.

The photograph of the Furman University Labyrinth was taken by me and published with the permission of the Furman University Chaplaincy.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.