Advent Day 9 - Rahab - Joshua 2:1-21

The story of Rahab is such a beautiful one to me... She is one of two women mentioned in the long line of heroes of the faith in Hebrews, she is also mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. 

I think what is so beautiful is that she was so not what you would picture the perfect great-great-great-etc-grandmother of the Savior to be. 

She was a prostitute.
Her people were enemies of the Israelites.
She was a pagan.

And yet.

She stepped out in such great faith, to help men she didn't even know.
She married into the Jewish royal family.
God used her to carry on the lineage of Christ.

How marvelous, how wonderful that there is nothing we can do, no wrong we can commit, no place we can go that God's love cannot rescue us from. All the dirt and hurt and shame and guilt are like chalk letters on the blackboard of life...With one step of faith, his wrist flicks them away and they are gone...And in their place? Written in permanent Sharpie-red, are the covenant words:

I will never leave you nor forsake you.   (Hebrews 13:5)

 So when life seems dark, or you seem too dirty, take those words and tie them around the window of your heart and hold on tight. He is coming to rescue you.

All is grace,
Carie

Joshua 2:1-21

The Message (MSG)

Rahab

2 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: “Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho.” They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, “We’ve just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They’re from the People of Israel.”

3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They’re spies; they’ve come to spy out the whole country.”

4-7 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they’d come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!” (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut.

8-11 Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof and said, “I know that God has given you the land. We’re all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below.

12-13 “Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”

14 “Our lives for yours!” said the men. “But don’t tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we’ll do right by you in loyal mercy.”

15-16 She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside. She told them, “Run for the hills so your pursuers won’t find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way.”

17-20 The men told her, “In order to keep this oath you made us swear, here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it’s his own fault—we aren’t responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it’s our fault. But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we’re no longer responsible.”

21 She said, “If that’s what you say, that’s the way it is,” and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window.

Advent Day 8 - Moses & the 10 Commandments - Deuteronomy 5:1-22

If you ask most people what the Ten Commandments are about, they would probably reply: "A list of rules." And they are a list of "do's and don'ts", but also so much more than that... they are a covenant - an unbreakable promise - between God and his people, the Israelites. It was God's way of saying: 

You are mine, save yourself for me. 
You bear my name, do not drag it through the mud.
I want to spend time with you - save one day a week especially for me.
Honor our love by living true to it - without stealing, lying, or cheating. 
Love others with the same love we share.

Looked at from that perspective, all of a sudden the dusty old tablets of stone become something beautiful and sacred. The words of Deuteronomy become those of a handsome groom to his beloved bride:

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!   - Deuteronomy 5:29

"Oh that their hearts..."

Hear the cry of a God who loves you, the One who gave it all to be with you - forever - and longs to be close to you, even now.

All is grace, 
Carie

Day 8  -  Moses & the 10 Commandments  -  Deuteronomy 5:1-22

The Message (MSG)

5 Moses called all Israel together. He said to them,

Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today. Learn them. Live them.

2-5 God, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb. God didn’t just make this covenant with our parents; he made it also with us, with all of us who are alive right now. God spoke to you personally out of the fire on the mountain. At the time I stood between God and you, to tell you what God said. You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn’t climb the mountain. He said:

6 I am God, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a house of slaves.

7 No other gods, only me.

8-10 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God. I hold parents responsible for any sins they pass on to their children to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation. But I’m lovingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

11 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.

12-15 No working on the Sabbath; keep it holy just as God, your God, commanded you. Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That’s why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

16 Respect your father and mother—God, your God, commands it! You’ll have a long life; the land that God is giving you will treat you well.

17 No murder.

18 No adultery.

19 No stealing.

20 No lies about your neighbor.

21 No coveting your neighbor’s wife. And no lusting for his house, field, servant, maid, ox, or donkey either—nothing that belongs to your neighbor!

22 These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.