8/8/25 Daily Devotional: Doesn’t Make Sense? … Good!

Joshua 2:1-13 ESV - And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. 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 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.”

God asks us to TRUST HIM to produce Victory in & through our lives … but He very rarely tells us HOW He is going to do that! (And that is very, very good!)

As the Israelites were preparing to finally enter God’s Promised Land, Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to scope out their first battle.

• These two spies were hidden & protected in Jericho by a prostitute named Rahab.

• Rahab expressed & exhibited TRUE FAITH in the God of the Israelites and requested to be saved by Him as He delivered her city to the Israelites in Victory.

The two spies obliged Rahab’s request … but look at what they told Rahab to do …

• They told Rahab to gather all of her family IN HER HOUSE and that they all should stay IN HER HOUSE through the battle and they would be saved if she hung a scarlet rope out her window … Rahab’s house was IN THE WALLS of Jericho!

• Those of us familiar with the story of Jericho will recall that God’s Way of defeating Jericho was going to be miraculously tumbling the WALLS of Jericho Himself …

• Think about that! If those spies had known God’s plans specifically …. Would they have told Rahab to hide her family in those walls?!?

As the walls of Jericho crumbled under the Mighty Hand of God … one section, adorned by a scarlet thread, remained … a triumphant message of God’s Mercy & Power and a powerful picture of Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice for you and for me.

• God often does not tell us the details of His Plans because they would not make sense to us … we would be tempted to apply our own understanding to His Plan, we would tell Rahab to hide her family in the center of town because God is going to destroy the walls … that makes sense, that is what she should do …

• GOD’s. WAY. IS. BETTER.

Trust Him. Move Forward. Expect Wonder.

• We are called to TRUST Him and live with a confident HOPE in His Victory.

• We are called to take ACTION in this Trust … taking steps of FAITH into the Good Works that He has prepared for us to do.

• We are called to expect the unexpectable … KNOWING that our God is able to do FAR MORE abundantly than we can ask or think!