Today's Passage - Joshua 2:1-7

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Joshua 2:1-7   Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, "Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land." But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.   Verse one says that Joshua "secretly sent two spies," which means he didn't want to startle the Israelites. He didn't the scene from forty years ago to repeat itself, which was when Moses sent out twelve spies, and because of the report from most of them the Israelites didn't want to fight for Hebron. The incident resulted in the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. Therefore, Joshua only picked two spies this time and went secretly, and the task of the spies was to figure out when and how they would fight.   In our journey to serve God, we are often like the spies of the time of Moses. We only look at what's impossible so we end up blocking God's work. May God turn us into spies of the time of Joshua; let us bring back to the people report written by God, not by men. These two spies had to go house of a prostitute because it was difficult for outsiders to pretend to be locals pacing the streets. Also, house of a prostitute was probably the best place to hide and no one would report them. The prostitute Rahab was a woman of faith, for even the Bible compliments her faith. In the Book of James her faith was written as equivalent to the faith of Abraham, and even her name was listed in the genealogy of Christ, how precious that is!   How could God use a prostitute though? Why would God use her to lie in order to save the two spies? Indeed, God could have chosen anyone to accomplish His work, because God is not like people. People look at the appearance, but God looks at the heart. Even though Rahab had to lie, it doesn't mean that lying is fine. We must understand that God could have protected the two spies even if Rahab didn't lie. Even though Rahab lied because she was weak, deep down inside she was hungry for the salvation of God. James complimented her faith not because she lied, but because she was hungry for God. God know who's hungry for Him and He will save them!   Pray with Pastor Tong     Lord, we ask you bless all the brothers and sisters, let them know that no matter what their circumstance is you can use them. As long as they look upon you in faith, you will make way for them. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!