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Aug 08, 2022 18:30pm

Does Your Past Still Define You?

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If you grew up in Charlotte, you know this man. Mr. Arms was a coach and teacher for many years at school. One of the kindest people you will ever meet. He had a little store close to the campus called Arms Grocery where kids would flock after school for sugary goodness and, of course, the occasional fight. But it didn’t matter if he had been your coach or not. Even years after retirement, and to this day, he is known to all as Coach Arms.

Joshua has been commanded by God to lead the Israelites into the promised land. Before taking the entire nation across the Jordan, Joshua sends two spies to see what lies ahead and report back to him what they find.

“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” (Joshua 2:1)

Now, if you are like me, questions are swirling through your mind right now. Why would they go to a harlot’s house? Is this really where God would send them?

Who was Rahab? It says here she was a harlot. But was this a title she was still a part of or had it followed her from her past?

Consider this commentary from Matthew Henry: “The providence of God directing the spies to the house of Rahab. How they got over Jordan we are not told; but into Jericho they came, which was about seven or eight miles from the river, and there seeking for a convenient inn were directed to the house of Rahab, here called a harlot, a woman that had formerly been of ill fame, the reproach of which stuck to her name, though of late she had repented and reformed. Simon the leper (Mt. 26:6), though cleansed from his leprosy, wore the reproach of it in his name at long as he lived; so Rahab the harlot; and she is so called in the New Testament, where both her faith and her good works are praised.”

Here, Henry describes a woman who had repented of her former ways and is not associated with that life anymore, yet is still known with that title.

As we continue to read, we see in verse 6 how she hid them when news came that spies were in the city.

“But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.”

Why is this so significant? Because of what she hid them with, stalks of flax. This plant was used in making linens, cords, and bands. It had to be dried out in the sun before being able to work with it as a material. So why would Rahab be in the need of work, drying flax, if she already had a “career” as a harlot?

As Henry mentioned, perhaps this woman was once a harlot, but now was not, and the title and scorn were what remained.

As we will read, God chose to use Rahab to protect his people and for her bravery, she was rewarded.

Once a harlot and now a heroine.

Her story brings up a great question about our own life. Does your past still define you? Were you once something and the title seems to have stuck with you over the years? In the eyes of man, you may still be known as that, but to the Lord, you are a new creation.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold all things have become new.” (1 Corinthians 5:17)

You are not who you used to be. No matter what the world thinks or says, if you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a new creation! Your sins are forgiven and you now wear a robe of white, covered in His righteousness!

Praise God!