Human Limitations Don’t Stop God
I have crisis fatigue. I could make a big long list of all the things that have transpired in the last few years and we'd (shockingly) mostly agree that we've had a lot of crises as a collective group of people. But my crisis fatigue is personal. Since January, when I was diagnosed with cancer, there have been a series of cascading complications that have worn me out. So when I tell you that I am grateful to be alive to talk about Rahab, the only female explicitly called out as heroic in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews - I am not being hyperbolic. I am grateful to be alive. And, I think a couple brushes with death within a few weeks of one another can be a life-changing experience, not just a challenging one. Time will tell if it has changed me much, but as I have studied Rahab, I suspect my new perspective on life and its fragility is certainly shaping my experience of her. There is a new sense of urgency stirring my spirit, aware of the small blink of time granted each of us in this life.
Rahab was a biblical character that had three strikes against her: 1. She was a Canaanite (the equivalent of being brought up on the wrongest of the wrong side of the tracks). 2. She was a female (we have historically placed less value on the female gender and this was certainly true during her lifetime) and 3. She was a working girl (a profession judged harshly even today). None of that is good news for Rahab.
But it turns out, most importantly perhaps, that Rahab is good news for some spies. Please do not miss my point here. We can be good news for someone else, even if we have three strikes against us. We can be good news in spite of living in a world that calls us bad news. Perhaps, we can be good news BECAUSE we know what it is like to be bad news - to have a series of cascading events change your life. And maybe, it is especially important to notice this because...there is a chance that if our life has never needed transformation, it will be awfully hard for us to show up for people who need support in their time of need. (I could argue that we all have these moments, so no one is left out. No one has it too easy. But I do believe that some of us fail to seize the moment to lean in and choose to be good news for someone else - especially if we feel like our bad news somehow makes it impossible for us to be valued or valuable.)
In Joshua 2 (a good read), Joshua sends two men to spy on a land God has already promised to Joshua and his tribe. Who knows why they "entered the house of a prostitute"? Was there no room at the end? Did they choose their away-from-home time to perhaps indulge in a bit of tomfoolery? Did God guide them there because he knew Rahab would be a sympathetic ally within the walls of the enemy? I do not know.
Rahab is not your average working girl; she is the head of her household. The extended family in her household consists of her parents, siblings, and “all who belong” to her parents and siblings (2:13, cf. 2:18; 6:22-23), presumably nieces and nephews and possibly servants. The household was the most numerous unit of society in ancient Israel. When Rahab and her family survive the conquest of Jericho, they become part of the nation Israel, a system of tribes not city states (like Jericho). Her household as the site of female authority is incorporated into the new order of things. It does not become wildly normative, but it is one step. And it is clearly honored in Hebrews 11. Rahab saves the spies from capture and strikes a bargain in the deal. She gets a get-out-of-annihilation-free card from the two spies. As a result, it could be argued that Rahab becomes both the midwife and the mother to Israel in its beginnings in Canaan. Rahab has a special function in the biblical narratives of Israel’s existence in the land. She is a prophet as she brings a divine message and literally assists Israel's occupation of a new land.
That's the background - now, what's the point?
Rahab has 3 strikes but no one can revoke her choice to take responsibility for her life and the life of those she loves. She pays attention; she learns things; she is alert and strategic; she is a leader in the way she conducts herself and engages in the world. She saves her family as a result and ends up in the lineage of Jesus - one of only a few women mentioned in Jesus' lineage in Matthew 1 - an unheard of thing, usually it was just the men included in geneologies. She is a leader in a world that told her she could not lead. Some people just make natural leaders - it's a personality thing, or an entitlement thing. But everyone is a leader somewhere. And Rahab owned what was hers to do when the moment of opportunity arose for her to take action. You are a leader. And there is a lot at stake for someone, not just you, but others as well, in terms of whether or not you are willing to own and take responsibility for the fact that you are human, and as such, part of God's plan to bless others. Save others. Make a difference.
All the wisdom in the world is of no value without courage. And all of us will need to "talk back" to our limitations. How can we do that? By realizing that this is God's story and not our soap opera. The world will happily agree with the fact that we have limitations - I do not know why this is, but people love to point out what's wrong. But here's the thing. We must have courage to not fall victim to this idea that our limitations are more special than God's presence. He says in Joshua 1 - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9. There is a difference between feeling fear and discouragement versus adopting fear and discouragement as a core value and guiding light in our life. We ALL feel afraid and discouraged. But what God is reminding Joshua of, and what it seems to me that Rahab always knew is this: there is a lot at stake here, and we cannot allow ourselves to sink into the easier way of giving up and making excuses for ourselves to not show up for our lives. I know you have limitations; I have limitations. We all have limitations - we have legitimate fears and reasons to be discouraged, but here's the thing and it is super important. None of that is the point.
At the close of Hebrews 11 Paul says this, "These were all commended for their faith, yet one of them received what had been promised (meaning, I think, that they did not get to see God's work completed). God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." We are a tiny piece of a big puzzle, but a puzzle missing one piece is a sad state of affairs. So when you are tempted to think about your limitations, I would point to Rahab as a life of inspiration. And I would ask you, for the sake of those whose own future depends on your leadership - do your work. Remember as she did who God is and what he is up to. And participate in that.
