Oakwood Church Fresh Start Women's Devotional Encouragement for Today Hartland Delafield

A Fresh Start For Rahab
By Susan Klein

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not...”
Hebrews 11:31a (KJV)

I love the picture God’s Word paints of a “fresh start” for a woman named Rahab. She earned her living as a prostitute, or harlot. Some would choose to just call her an “innkeeper,” but this would not be completely accurate. In the book of Joshua, where we are first introduced to Rahab, the Hebrew word attached to her name is translated “whore.” In the verse above, the Greek word is, “porne,” from which our word “pornography” is derived. Get the picture? There is no denying who she was and what she did. But, the God of “fresh starts” had plans to use this woman in a crucial way.

Rahab the harlot grew up in a culture steeped in idolatry and pagan customs. She quite inevitably became a product of her upbringing, and chose to go the way of her world. But along the way, she also heard the stories of the great miracles performed by the God of Israel, stories that she just could not ignore. Soon, she must have begun to question the gods she followed, question the path she was on, question if this other God could possibly be the “real deal”...her own pagan gods could not do miracles, nor could they provide the answers I imagine she might have desperately sought. Rahab found herself on a collision course with death, both physical and spiritual.

This is where the story gets good! The God of the universe, who planted a seed of faith within her soul, waters it and grows it until it blossoms into full-fledged faith! He gifts her with a fresh start! Though she still wears the stigma of “harlot,” God chooses to use her in His plans for Israel. Her fresh start with God allows her to display her faith by hiding Joshua’s spies. Her faith also saves the lives of her family members when the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Though we don’t know if they also had chosen to believe in the One True God, perhaps her faithful actions were enough to lead them to a fresh start of their own.

No human life is insignificant to God. No sin is too great to be overcome, and no seed of faith too small to grow into something big! God desires for everyone to have a fresh start in life, one that begins with Him!

GOING DEEPER:
1. Whatever your burden, give it to God and let Him give you a fresh start in return.

FURTHER READING:
Ezekiel 11:16-21; 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

Susan is a wife and mother of two. She is the Coordinator of Oakwood’s Tuesday a.m. Bible Study and one of its teachers.