Son,
The past year has been filled with a lot of changes. You went from being a high school student in my home to living out of state and doing life and college as an adult.
I prepared you to be independent. You have good study habits. You can do your own laundry. You know how to budget your money. But there is one thing I was remiss in teaching you.
Don’t miss your Rahab.
I worked hard for 18 years to instill in you a healthy and holy perspective of women. I guarded your eyes and heart and protected you from a lot of temptation.
But before you left I never told you this. When your heart stumbles on a woman who takes your breath away, she may not come in the package you imagine.
She may not come from a home like you did. She may not have Christian parents. She may have a broken family and a broken life. But son, please don’t miss your Rahab.
You see Rahab, was a prostitute. We know her for her occupation. We know her for hiding spies in Jericho. But there is more.
She was selfless.
In the terror leading up to the destruction of her hometown, Rahab made gutsy decisions with other’s well-being in mind. She risked her life to save the Israelite spies. She kept risking when she made sure her family would be under the protection of the Israelite’s promise when they came back to rescue her.
She was willing to walk away.
Rahab had a comfortable life it seems. She had a home. She had money. She had a people, a culture and a way of life. But when she was presented with a better way, she took it.
She married her hero.
One of those spies who saved her when the walls of her city collapsed became her husband. The scripture doesn’t tell us a lot about their marriage or their life together but I see Rahab clinging to this man faithfully all the days of her life. I imagine their love was enduring.
While we don’t have a lot of details about their life, we know what kind of child they raised. Boaz, the redeemer of Ruth, was their son. Salmon and Rahab raised a man who was able to see the worth and value of a woman who didn’t come from a well-to do Jewish family. He married a poor widow from a foreign land.
I suppose Boaz didn’t think loving Ruth was so difficult because of the example of his parents. Boaz’s capacity to love speaks to the faithful love planted in his heart from his mother and father.
She believed.
It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Hebrews 11:31
There are a lot of girls who may come with less baggage. They may have less trouble and fewer issues, but remember what Jesus said:
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Luke 7:47
So son, as you go out into this world, as you plan your future and seek God’s will for your life, find a woman who is selfless and sacrificial. Find a woman who will commit to you and to your God. And please, whatever you do, don’t miss your Rahab.
“Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.” Matthew 1:5, the lineage of Jesus
