Rahab - Week 3: The Lovingkindness of God

Erin Davis: I am so glad you are back with us! We are walking through the study Rahab: Tracing the Thread of Redemption, and I love the women that are listening. I know that sounds like I’m just saying it, because I haven’t met them! But I do, and I am picturing you as we’re opening our Bibles.

What are you doing? Are you in your church, or are you in your home, or are you in your car? I’m thinking of you, and I care about you. I’m so glad you’re with us! I know that you are going to love the women joining me. You’ve already met them, but I’ll let them reintroduce themselves.

I have a hard opening question! Sometimes they’re silly, but this one goes for the heart a little. Tell them your name and who has shown you steadfast love? We’ll start with you.

Leslie Bennett: Alright! I’m Leslie. I’m a Carolina girl, but not North . . . South Carolina!

Erin: That’s important!

Leslie: Yes! Don’t confuse the two!

Erin: It’s the most southern Carolina!

Leslie: That’s right! Aww, I’d have to say my husband has shown me the most love of any other human being on this earth. I’m really grateful!

Erin: How long have you been married?

Leslie: Thirty-seven years.

Erin: Whoa!

Paulina Torres: Wow!

Leslie: Thank You, Lord, for that. That’s a gift! 

Erin: You were just telling me this week about the time he surprised you with a trip to Paris.

Leslie: He sure did when I turned sixty!

Erin: That’s pretty amazing!

Leslie: It was very, very thoughtful, very sweet, and a wonderful surprise. We had a great time!

Erin: Thirty-seven years is a long time for steadfast love!

Leslie: It is, yes! And it keeps getting better! So to all you newlyweds out there . . .

Erin: They think it’s pretty great now, so that’s good news: it keeps getting better! Alright, you tell us your name, tell us where you’re from, and if you want to, about your son. And who has shown you steadfast love?

Paulina: Okay, my name is Paulina, and I’m going to join ten years in my marriage. I feel like a newlywed! I have an eight-year-old son. He’s the cutest little thing!

Erin: What’s his name?

Paulina: Christian.

Erin: Oh I love that name. 

Paulina: I was thinking about the steadfast love while Leslie was talking about her love, and I was just thinking when I shared a little bit of my testimony in the first episode. 

I was in sexual abuse and searching for love in relationships, and then things, and then food—all these crazy places. I was heartbroken about not finding real love . . . until I met Jesus. And that is true love!

I was very disappointed in what the world named as “love,” or pictured it. When I suffered the sexual abuse, it was really hurtful that my mom knew about it, but we were still in that situation. I just didn’t feel protected. I didn’t feel she cared. I felt like, “Well, it’s not that important.” That is how I felt.

I was searching for this true love in so many other areas, but in Jesus was this, “Okay, I have made all these mistakes, and He still loves me with such tender love!” That’s what makes me want to love Him more, because it’s the only love I have actually experienced that is just so satisfying and so true! 

Erin: Well, I can’t top that! Jesus is the source of steadfast love, and we’re here because He’s shown us steadfast love. 

I’m Erin and, actually, I have a lot of people who have loved me really steadfastly; I’m really fortunate in that. 

I can rattle off family members and friends and pastors and husband and children . . . That’s who comes to mind, my children. I mean, there’s a lot of talk about a parent’s love for their child, but my children love me. I can just blow it with them, and there is immediate grace for me! I don’t fall from grace in relation to them. 

They’re little. I’m sure there will be some bumps on the road. But they really accept me. They know me as me; they see me at my worst, at my best. 

Paulina: You’re Momma!

Erin: I’m their momma. There is steadfast, consistent love there, and I’m really grateful for that! We’re going to be talking about steadfast love. You kind of let the cat out of the bag, Paulina! We’re going to be talking about the steadfast love of the Lord. 

Paulina: Well, you’re the one that asked the question. (laughter)

Erin: I think they knew we were going there—talking about the steadfast love of God. But I want to just catch us up a little bit on Rahab’s story. We’re walking through the study, Rahab: Tracing the Thread of Redemption. We’ve not made it very far in our story; we’re taking it kind of slow.

So, pop quiz, where in the Bible is our story found? 

Paulina: Joshua.

Erin: Joshua. You did so good! Joshua chapter 2. It’s week 3, and we’ve already made it all the way to verse 11. We’re going nice and slow through this one chapter of the Bible, and that’s because it’s so rich!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t do slow. I say I have two speeds: asleep and awake! So, I go, go, go, go, go, go, go. It’s not just an Erin issue. I think—I know—our attention spans are being impacted by a lot of technology and things that are going on.

I used to be able to sit through a red light without looking at my phone. How about you? Not anymore! We’re used to just moving from this thing to that thing to this thing to that thing. It’s not great in lots of areas of our lives, but I think it’s really not great in our study of God’s Word.

Any time we open the Bible and read, even if it’s just for a minute, it’s profitable. But I try to force myself to slow down. And, Leslie, I know that you’re a lover of the Bible and of deep study of the Bible. And can I say, “You’re an older woman”?

Leslie: Yes you can.

Erin: Okay, because it’s true. You’re an older woman that I respect and admire, so I would just love to hear, how do you slowly and intentionally walk through a passage like we’re doing? We’re spending a lot of time on one chapter. How do you make yourself slow down?

Leslie: I think the first thing I always do when I open the Word of God is I just stop and I say, “Heavenly Father, come, Holy Spirit, come open my eyes to the wonderful treasures found in Your Word. Would You come and speak to me?”

I have made that a practice all of my life since I’ve been studying the Bible—just stopping and asking God for help . . . minimizing distractions.

Erin: That doesn’t take long, to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help.

Leslie: Yes, it’s a quick little prayer. Then the other thing I try not to do is to not have my phone there, because I get distracted so easily, so quickly. All of a sudden the next thing I’m doing instead of reading the Bible is I’m reading my phone.

Erin: Or taking a picture of yourself. (laughter)

Leslie: Right, and posting it!

Paulina: [caption:] “I love Jesus!”

Leslie: Those two things I think really help me a lot.

Erin: Okay: pray for the Holy Spirit’s help, and don’t have your phone in the equation. Those are good. Is there anything you do to help yourself slow down when you’re opening your Bible, Paulina?

Paulina: First of all, set aside the time. If I don’t set aside the time, then a million other things happen and life goes on and then breakfast and school and all these things.

Erin: And then it’s bedtime, and you’re exhausted.

Paulina: I'm exhausted, and I can’t read the Word. So setting the time and knowing that’s my goal in the morning. The first thing I want to do is go in the Word, because I want to be well-equipped for whatever battles and temptations I have that day. I want Ephesians 6, the armor of God every day.

But it’s setting the time and taking it slow, rereading it and rereading. I have found that rereading the text is going to show you other things that you didn’t notice the first time you read it. So it’s taking the time, taking it slow. You don’t have to rush through it. “I want to read six chapters today!” But, no, take it slow and meditate on what you’re reading.

Leslie: You could read six verses instead of six chapters, if you wanted, and really digest deeply, marinate on it.

Erin: Really good insight. Well, that’s what we’re doing; we’re slowing ourselves down. Here’s a reason, an encouragement, to really be intentional in your study of the Bible. Leslie, can you read us Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5?

Leslie: I’d love to! (I want you to know this is underlined in my Bible, with a circle!) 

Erin: Which means what? “Pay attention?”

Leslie: Yes, it does: “commit this to memory!” Proverbs 30:5: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

Erin: I love that. Every word matters! So we’re moving slowly; that was kind of a big preamble for that. But there’s a reason we’re moving slowly: it all matters, and we don’t want to miss a thing! So let’s head on back to Joshua 2. I’m going to read verses 8–14.

Remember, the Israelites sent two spies into Jericho to scope it out, even though they knew they were going to win the city. Rahab takes them in. She lies to the king, says that they’re not there. That’s where we’re going to pick it up, at verse 8.

Joshua 2:8–14: 

Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

"For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.

"And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign."

And if you’re a write-in-your-Bible kind of girl, “dealt kindly” is something that’s worth paying attention to, circling, underlining, also “deal kindly.”

". . . that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."

And the men said to her, "Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly [there it is again] and faithfully with you." 

So here’s our big idea, here’s where we’re heading from, just this part of the story: courageous living (and Rahab’s doing some courageous living) flows out of a higher view of God. I have this little mantra I’ve adopted recently (I don’t know where I’ve picked it up) which is that I don’t need a smaller view of my problems; I need a bigger view of God!

I don’t just need to trivialize the challenges in my life, in your life, because some of those are not small!

Paulina: They’re big!

Erin: They’re big! The answer for making my heart have peace or me living courageously is not to minimize those but to have a bigger view of God. “I need to see more of You; I need to understand more of Your character!”

I really believe that we see in Rahab someone who got a bigger view of God along the way, and it equipped her to take some risks for Him. What did she risk? Rahab is willing to house the spies, she lies to the king about it, so what did she risk in doing that?

Paulina: She risked her life and her family’s lives!

Leslie: Everything! I mean, she was a traitor to her nation, and she knew that she could lose everything!

Erin: There was no going back from this moment. Now, we know that Jericho was going to be destroyed, and she wasn’t going to be able to go back anyway. But she did not know that. There was no going back in any way from this. She risked it all because she believed God was who He says He is.

Who are some others that you can think of—they could be famous or not famous, they could be your neighbor, your pastor, some others that you can think of—when I say they risked big for God, who comes to mind? Leslie, who do you think of?

Leslie: Yes, I just happened to be reading about this the other day, about a woman who was killed by a terrorist attack in Iraq. She was a missionary, and before she packed up and went to the mission field, she wrote a letter to her pastor and handed it to him. 

She said, “If anything should ever happen to me, here’s a letter for my family, for my church family, and for my friends.”

Erin: She knew the risks. She didn’t go into it blindly.

Leslie: She knew the risks going into it, but here’s what she said in her letter. 

“If something happens and I do not return, there are no regrets for I am with Jesus. My call is to obedience. Suffering is expected. His glory is my reward!” 

That made a huge impression on me!

Erin: That’s somebody with a big view of God!

Leslie: I want to be able to say that, even though God’s not sending me to the mission field right now, today. I’m still here. But I want to be able to say that about my life, my daily life: “Obedience is my call; suffering is expected; His glory is my reward!” 

Erin: And there’s no regrets because I am with Jesus.

Leslie: Yes, no regrets!

Erin: I don’t know that woman. 

Leslie: I don’t know her either.

Erin: But we can know something about her faith from what she did and what she said. She’s not somebody who thought God was puny and not sovereign and not big and not good, or she wouldn’t have done those things.

Paulina, when you think of somebody who’s risked for God, does somebody come to mind?

Paulina: Well, all throughout the New Testament, we see all these people that are willing to die for Jesus. They are stoned; they’re put into prison; they are tortured, and they risked their lives saying, “I believe that Jesus is the true God!”

I think in our daily lives we see people around us that are suffering something, and when they claim, “This is what God has promised me,” your faith is like, “Ah, I believe in this true God!” 

Just a couple of days ago, one of my very good friends, her grandson that had been born. And forty-eight hours later, he died. 

And the first thing that she wrote me was, “God is good.” Only somebody that knows this true God and only somebody that has seen Him faithful throughout the Bible and in her life could say, “God has been good. He gave us our grandson for forty-eight hours, and He is good.” For me those are like, “Wow!”

Erin: That’s a woman with a big view of God! 

Leslie: It sure is!

Erin: You mentioned those in the New Testament who were willing to risk everything. I don’t know how you can deny the resurrection when Jesus’ followers were willing to go to death because of it. They weren’t going to go to death for a fairy tale! They weren’t going to go to their own deaths for some P.R. scheme they’d made up. They weren’t going to do it to save face.

I mean, once the risks were in front of them, they would have crumbled. But they didn’t crumble! They were strengthened and they grew. That’s because they had seen the risen Savior! That’s a pretty big view of God!

Paulina: Think about Stephen when he was being stoned.

Erin: I love his sermon! 

Paulina: He looked up and saw Jesus’ glory . . .

Leslie: . . . and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God!

Erin: I think of this couple in my church. They’re in their early seventies; they’ve worked really hard. They’re at the place of retirement, but they don’t want to retire. They just agreed to join a missionary organization. They’re professional counselors, and they go all over the world to give counseling to missionaries.

I can’t imagine. In their early seventies, traveling all over the world is challenging. And, you know, they’re really risking a lot. They’re risking their retirement or the American dream or being away from their kids or grandkids. Some of the places they’re going, they’re legitimately risking their safety. Why? Because they have a big view of God!

And Rahab, we see this bravery in her. It’s not just foolishness. She’s not just carefree. Somewhere along the line she got a bigger view of God. 

Paulina: I think that what we believe of God is going to determine how we live our lives every day— what we do, what we don’t do, how we act, what we decide. 

Leslie: I keep coming back to the fact that Rahab didn’t have the Word of God. She had so much less of truth to base her life on than when we do. She only had two stories that she knew about God, and she chose to believe them. How much do I sometimes struggle about getting a high view of God . . . and I have the whole counsel of God, from beginning to end! 

That really says something to me. Believe and act on the Word of God, whatever you hear. However much you have of it, grab hold of it! Make it real in your life!

Erin: Yes. I’ve got to be honest, I’m prone to discouragement. I can sometimes get discouraged by offering the Bible to women who have Bibles in their homes, they have Bible studies in their homes, they have access to the church, they have access to women’s Bible studies, they have access to great podcasts (like the Woman of the Bible podcasts!). But they have a little view of God because they’re not running to those things, they’re not listening to those things, they’re not opening those things.

I have nothing else to offer anybody other than the Bible. But it is enough to give you a big view of God. And Rahab essentially had one little piece of Scripture.

She had a couple little stories. She had just the tiniest glimpse of what we have, and yet it was enough to give her this grand devotion.

Paulina: This is the God of heaven and earth!

Erin: Her view of God became higher than her comfort; her view of God became higher than her view of her government, of her plans for her life.So you said it, it’s true: What we believe about God determines, what we believe about everything else, or at least how we see and prioritize everything else.

So let’s talk through just a few areas. How does it impact our lives if we have a high view of God’s sovereignty . . . the idea that God is in control? If we really have a high, big picture view that God is in control, how does that impact the way that we live?

Leslie: Well, I think for one thing in my life, it allows me to rest in Him, especially when I’m praying for a particular way and God chooses to answer a different way. Then I can say, “Okay, God, You’re in control. You know what’s best. You’re working out Your plans. Your plans can’t be thwarted. Whatever’s happening over here is not going to keep You from accomplishing Your plans and Your purposes.”

It gives me more peace and rest. I just have to keep reminding myself God is Sovereign over all things. He never leaves His throne for a moment! There is no detail outside of His control, our lives included.

Erin: Versus, if you had a low view of God, a small picture of His Sovereignty, and He didn’t answer the prayer in the way that you thought He should (which He won’t, because He’s God) . . .

Leslie: I’d be a wreck! I’d feel like everything depended on me! How many times do we think that anyway? “Oh, God, I’ve got it!” (Right?) “Let me fix this. Let me take care of this. You’re depending on me to correct this problem.”

Erin: Paulina, I’d love to hear you speak to this one, because you’ve spoken to it some already. How does it impact your life when you have a high, big view of God’s love? 

Paulina: I can see both happening in my life all the time. When I see a big God and how He does, He is with me like a powerful giant, and you see His faithfulness.

But I also see sometimes when I doubt, and maybe I’m too much, how do you say it? You’re over yourself? 

Leslie: Get over yourself. It’s all about you.

Paulina: “I’m suffering,” and “my comfort,” and I’m making me big, and I’m making God small. Then I get worried. 

Erin: I don’t need a bigger view of me! You’re right!

Paulina: So I have to continually be intentional about “making Him big!” He is big, but telling my soul who He is and reminding my soul, “Remember, God is this and God is that!” I’m making Him big in my heart so I could rest and have that assurance that God will help me, that He will be with me because He is faithful to what He says.

So, yes, I can definitely tell a difference in my life when it’s Paulina being “big” in the picture and a
“small” God.

Erin: What about His power? How does it impact the way we live when we have a high view of His power versus when we have a small view of His power? I mean, yes, this is the God who raised from the dead!

Paulina: I totally relate to the Israelites. They saw God’s power when the Red Sea parted! I can’t imagine that scene! I’m going to ask them when I get to heaven, “What was that like?” But just seeing that power . . . and just days later questioning, “What are we going to drink?”

Leslie: I think of a verse I repeat often, almost daily, “For nothing [is] impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Because in my mind, it looks like, “This can’t possibly be redeemed or resurrected or brought back to life or good brought from it.” But nothing, nothing!—Scripture says—is impossible with God!

Can I share a verse?

Erin: Yes, you sure can!

Leslie: Because here’s where I love to go when I need to know that the power of God can do anything, when it’s beyond my imagination. I like to go to Isaiah 40:28-32: 

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to himwhohas no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (ESV)

So we can run to other places elsewhere in the Bible and say, “God, show me how powerful You are. I need to know, because I need to know that you can handle this!”

Paulina: And He does reveal that power; it is just mind-blowing!

Leslie: It is.

Paulina: I remember a conference where I was going to share in front of a lot of people. My heart was beating so hard I was just about to cry; I couldn’t even breathe! And I said, “Lord, if You don’t put Your hand on my heart, I can’t even talk. Please help me!” And just as I was going up the steps, “Boom!” I was so relaxed!

When I was a new believer, I struggled with my finances. I remember saying, “God, You say you’re this powerful God and that You know all my needs, and I have to pay this tomorrow. I don’t know what to do. I’m learning this faith thing.” And the next day on my desk in my office, I had five-hundred dollars! Yes!

Leslie: Wow! Only God does that!

Erin: That will give you a higher view of God!

Paulina: Yes. “God, You listened. You are powerful to do anything!”

Leslie: Anything!

Erin: And we’ve said it, Rahab didn’t have the Bible. She just had some stories of who God is, and stories in Scripture give us a high view of God. There are lots of them. We could certainly point to Rahab’s deliverance here. We could point to the story that we’ve mentioned, that was Rahab’s frame of reference: the parting of the Red Sea.

What are some other stories, some of those tried and true stories that come to your mind that lead to a bigger view of God? “Wow, when we hear this story, we know how big He is.”

Leslie: There are so many in the book of Acts. I think about Acts 12 when Peter was in prison. He thought he was dreaming, but an angel came and broke the chains off of him and opened the gate so he could walk through. And he went to the house where the church was gathered praying for him, and even they were astounded!

Erin: And they left him out in the cold.

Leslie: They did. They went to the door and said, “That can’t be him because he’s in jail!” They closed the door back. That one comes to mind.

Erin: Even as they were praying, they needed a higher view of God.

Paulina: There are just so many stories that give a higher view of God, but I love the parts in the Old Testament that say the other nations are much bigger and more powerful than the Israelites, but it’s God that gives them the victory. 

You can see their weakness. Maybe there are thousands here and there are not as many here, and it was God who gave them the victory, even though there was no way they could win. I love that part, that God is going to give the victory to whom He wishes. I just love seeing that.

Erin: Stories have power. Scripture tells us, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.” (see Ps. 107:2). That’s not an invitation to talk about ourselves all the time. It’s not because we need more spotlight grabbing (we all do plenty of that!). It’s because when we tell the stories of what God has done, it helps the hearer have a bigger view of Him.

The greatest indicator of who God is going to be is who He has already been. So if He’s been big in your life, I can count on Him to be big in mine. Somehow the rest of Canaan heard about the parting of the Red Sea and managed to hold on to a low view of God. But Rahab didn’t. We do the same.

I have this little mantra; I don’t even know if it comes from me or where it comes from. I say it all the time to myself and to my children: “I will measure Your love by the Cross and Your power by the resurrection!” So, “I won’t measure Your love by how I feel; I won’t measure Your love by how lovable I am this moment.”

“But, Jesus, I know the standard of Your love for me is that You went to the Cross for me. And I won’t measure Your power by if I see You doing things in this moment or if You answer the prayer exactly like I think You should. But I will measure Your power by the fact that You raised Yourself from the dead! I will measure Your love by the Cross and Your power by the resurrection.” 

That’s a pretty high view of God. That really emboldens me to live for Him and to grow in my faith, because He has shown me who He is!

Paulina: You said something really important, that you measure God’s power not by how you feel. I think, as women, we move a lot with our emotions and our feelings. We just want to center this amazing God into our little world of feelings. But when we put our feelings under who God is, then those feelings are going to change.

Leslie: We have to walk by faith and not by sight, so not only is it not our feelings, but it’s not by what we see going on around us.

Erin: Yes, if we have to base our worship of the sovereign God on what we feel at any given moment, we won’t, right? We might have some moments where we really feel like worshipping, but we have to have something else to look to, to know who He really is. Fortunately, He’s given us lots of places to look in His Word.

So, I wonder, what has God used in your life to give you a higher view of Him? I think some of it He just does over time. Through maturity we learn about Him more and we understand His bigness more and more. But is there anything specific in your life that you can look at and say, “Yes, that’s given me a higher view of God!” Leslie? 

Leslie: In my life, it was something that happened to me when I was a child that I had kept as a secret, because I was afraid to tell anyone. Even when I became a believer at age thirty-six, I still was hiding the secret.

Finally, I got to a point where Jesus was speaking to me from His Word where He says, “I’ve come to give you life and to give it abundantly.” (see John 10:10) I was not living the abundant life, because I had some brokenness in my life that needed the kind of healing that only Jesus can give. But I was so afraid of it, afraid to even acknowledge it, afraid that it might kill me!

Erin: Because it was a secret you had kept for how many years?

Leslie: Forty years. For forty years I’d never shared it with anyone! But when I finally, through the courage of the Holy Spirit, was able to share it with someone, I saw the power of God go in, in my life and in my heart, and heal and redeem something that I never dreamed could be possible! So that’s how I know! 

That’s what I’ve seen; that is what’s real in my life. Because that’s happened to me, I can encourage other women!

Erin: And what a shift! When we say how you view God impacts everything, it does! I imagine that put shock waves into many corners of your life beyond that one.

Leslie: It sure did! Just that abundant living and being free and being healed! And just knowing Jesus in that way. Oh, yes, it set me on a whole different path . . . woohoo! . . . my life really changed!

Erin: I love that! Pauline, you wanted to read us a story from Isaiah 6:1–6. This is a prophet, prophet Isaiah. Here we see his moment when he got a higher view of God.

Paulina:  

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet and with two he flew.

And one called to another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; His glory fills the whole earth!" The foundations of the doorway shook at the sound of their voices and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips and because my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. . . ."

Then one of the seraphim flew to me and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. (vv. 1–4, 6 CSB)

Erin: So here’s Isaiah, and he sees the Lord in the throne room. The place is full of smoke, and there are seraphim flying around. I just have a hard time believing Isaiah went back to worrying about how he was going to pay his bills! (laughter) Or who liked him or who didn’t like him or trying to build his “little k” kingdom versus the Kingdom, after this.

He was given the gift of a higher view of God! And Rahab knew enough about God to trust Him, and God used her, and then she just got to see more of Him at work.

Leslie: And when God gives you a vision . . . God has used this passage in my life in a very real, personal way about ten years ago. I had read Isaiah 6 a million times, but this one particular time when I was reading it, I was truly overwhelmed by the holiness of God, and that was such a contrast to my sin!

I really saw my sin for the very first time. And you know, when you have that kind of experience, you are prostrate before the Lord, because you see yourself! “I am a woman of unclean lips!”

Erin: That’s what Isaiah says. He says, “Woe is me!”

Leslie: “Woe is me!” And I can tell you, in my experience with that, I was a changed person after just seeing God’s holiness. That is a gift that He will allow us to have.

Paulina: Yes, that is a gift, and we see ourselves as real sinners, like Job.

Leslie: Yes we do, for the first time!

Paulina: Job thought, I know God, but when God reveals Himself to Job and starts asking him all these questions (“Have you been there where I put the snow?” . . . and all these things), Job says, “Oh, I thought I knew You!”

Erin: “But now I have a bigger view of You.”

Leslie: Yes, he had a higher view of himself and a lower view of God. And God said, “No, let’s change that scale around a little bit!”

Paulina: That is what it does, it makes God big, and it makes us small and in desperate need of the real God!

Leslie: Amen!

Erin: I’m going to take us back to Joshua 2:12–14 and, as I was reading it earlier, I had you circle or pay attention to that phrase, “deal kindly.” Rahab says it many, many times. It relates to the Hebrew word, hesed,  which is hard to translate when used of God, but here’s a stab at it: Hesed is God’s loyal unfailing love for His people, a love that flows out of covenant relationship.

Leslie: Do you know what I call hesed? I call it a [she shouts], “I will not let you go!” love. That’s how God is with us. “I will not let you go!”

Erin: I love that! And maybe you’ve heard that God loves you, and you’ve experienced God’s love, but maybe that one word gives you a bigger view of Him and a bigger view of His love. It’s not just, “He loves you,” like He loves something else or like we say we love some things.

It’s an [she shouts], “I will not let you go” love. It’s an unfailing love! It’s a steadfast love, it’s a covenant love. 

Paulina: Loyal. 

Leslie: An unending love. 

Erin: And because of that kind of love, He deals kindly with us! That’s what Rahab was asking for God’s people to do with her: “Deal kindly with me, deal kindly with my family, deal kindly with us.” And it’s hesed that motivates God to do that with us.

It’s because of God’s hesed that He deals kindly with us. It’s a higher view of God and a higher view of God’s love. I would love the women listening to grab hold of that, grab hold of the bigness of God’s love for them.

I don’t know if you do this with your children, but I really like to pray blessings over my children or read Scripture blessings over my children or people that I love, just to give them a blessing. I thought reading Psalm 136 as a blessing over the women that are listening . . . which twenty-six times references God’s hesed love.

We’d just read it over them as a blessing in this session. We’ll just read a verse at a time, around and round the circle; twenty-six times we’ll remind them of His hesed love (mix of ESV & CSB):

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, his love is eternal.

To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever. He spread the land on the waters; his love is eternal; to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever.

The sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; the moon and stars to rule over by night; his love is eternal; to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever; and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever.

With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, his love is eternal; to him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;cand made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever; but hurled Pharoah and his army in the Red Sea; his love is eternal. 

To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever; to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever; and slaughtered famous kings; his love is eternal. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Erin: We’ve heard the names of those two kings in Rahab’s story! Those are the kings who were taken over in the Promised Land, the kings who ruled the Canaanites—Amorites—same people, and through their story is proclaiming His steadfast love endures forever!

And gave their land as an inheritance; his love is eternal; a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever. It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; and rescued us from our foes; his love is eternal. 

He who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. Amen!

Erin: You know, we just told the same story that Rahab did, and we told it through the grid of God’s steadfast love!

 

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