Sometimes in our deep despair all we have is a thread of hope to hang on to. So, what is hope? Well, the short answer is hope is a promise that God will always make a way. David said this in Psalm 34:19, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”
Such was the case of Rahab, a prostitute whose story is told in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab owned an inn near the city gate of Jericho, a city ‘soon’ to be conquered by the Israelites.
Rahab heard about God’s greatness and had come to believe He was the one true God. So she hid the two Israeli spies that Joshua, the commander of the Israelite army, had sent on a scouting mission into Jericho.
The king of Jericho heard that the spies had been at Rahab’s home, so he sent orders for her to turn them over. When the king’s soldiers questioned her of the whereabouts of the two spies, Rahab misguided the soldiers and sent them on a wild goose chase after the spies whom she had actually hidden on her roof.
Once the soldiers were gone, Rahab asked the spies to save her and her household. She promised to keep silent about their mission if they would spare her family when the Israelites invaded the city of Jericho. The spies told her to hang a scarlet cord from her window opening as a sign to the Jews to protect her.
Rahab obeyed and when the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab’s life, and all those in her household, hung by the thread of hope that the spies would keep their word.
When it came to pass she and her entire family were spared from the destruction when the walls of Jericho crumbled. Her household was passed over. Protected. Delivered. Just as it was promised!
Like Rahab, the only thing we have between ourselves and plights, test, trials, and challenges is a thin thread of hope. When all is said and done, we will always have the love of God, the hope He offers and the peace He gives.
Each of us needs a thread of hope-a reminder that just as God saved Rahab, God can save each of us. He may or may not completely change the outcome stemming from our plights, test, trials, or challenges, but He can insulate and protect us from being taken under the falling rubble that surrounds us.
He is there when we’re hanging on by a thread. Even at our weakest point, a simple cry such as, “Lord, help me” invites the hand of God to take hold of our situation. And deliver us.
So, HOLD ON!!
4GIVEN 