Maybe It's Like Rahab

I'm reading in Joshua chapter 2 about the prostitute named Rahab who hides the Israelite spies from the king of Jericho. Her words to the spies about how her people fear the Israelites and know the Lord has given them this land empowers and encourages the Israelites. Her report, her actions, and her boldness in requesting deliverance for her whole family inspire me all morning.

But what I can't stop thinking about is her home.

Rehab lived in the city wall. Her home was in the most dangerous, isolated location reserved for the poor and the outcasts in Jericho. What did it feel like to Rahab to have a home in the city wall, away from everyone like that? What did she think about her life? What did she think about God? Did she consider that God loved her even though she was in this desolate and dangerous place?

I wonder. I really wonder.

I realize that the deliverance of a nation seemed to hinge upon this woman. The deliverance of her family and the hope of her life came about because of this dangerous and isolated location in the city wall. She just happened to live in precisely the right place to hide the spies and secure her family's future.

And one strange day, as the walls of Jericho fell around her, except her own little home, I wonder what that felt like.

I do not doubt our most desolate, excluded places might just be the very location of our deepest deliverance. Maybe it's just like Rahab.