First off, Francine Rivers is an amazing story teller and writer. Her books always seem so dynamic and intense, you’re pulled into the story, even if it were 2000+ years ago in Biblical times. If you haven’t read her books, you should.

Late last week, I finished up “Unashamed” which is part of the selection of stories from Lineage of Grace. This was the story of Rahab and the walls coming down around Jericho. I’ve created a few simple questions of my own here and will be adding in some questions from Rivers’ book that I thought would be helpful – either to just leave for thought or something for me to dig into on this post.

WHAT WAS SURPRISING IN READING THIS STORY?

Before reading this, I had the privilege of reading other stories and examples at some point in my life of how God could use someone most, if not all, would deem unworthy of His grace and mercy. So that particular area was not surprising, only gratifying.

What surprised me most was how much faith Rahab showed throughout the entire story, page after page was filled with her determination and faith. As someone who had never experienced the acts of God personally, or had actually heard the Law, she had more faith than many people, even people today.

“Out there in the darkness, across the Jordan inside the wall of a pagan city was a woman of contemptible reputation who’d never seen a miracle, tasted a bite of manna, or heard a single word of the Law. And yet her faith was strong enough that she had greeted, welcomed, and protected those who were coming to destroy her and her people. ‘The Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below,’ she had declared.”

A Lineage of Grace: Unashamed / Francine Rivers

WHAT’S MY FAVORITE QUOTE FROM THE BOOK AND WHY?

I have a couple….

One isn’t really much of a quote, but around the middle of the story, Salmon prays that he would be a man of God, not just a man. That’s something we should take and stitch on our hearts – to be a man or woman of God. We should always be seeking His will and obeying, learning and growing always, praying unceasingly. He’s an example, especially at the end, to have faith in God and have faith in a woman so unworthy yet worthy in God’s eyes.

Our salvation depends not on who we are, but on who He is.

Salmon, Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers

Nothing we do can bring us salvation, we cannot save ourselves and our good works alone will not save us. Romans 11:6

PSALM 27:14

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

What does this verse and it’s instruction mean to you?

JOSHUA 6:15-25 / WHAT ITEMS WERE SPARED AND WHY?

Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.

Joshua 6:18-19

These items, the silver, gold, bronze and iron, were spared from destruction because these are sacred to the Lord. WHY THOUGH?

These are considered holy to the Lord. These metals were used to build the temples in biblical times. They were precious to God.

JOHN 3:16-17

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

Whom have you chosen to rescue you?

HOW DOES THE DEFINITION OF FAITH APPLY TO RAHAB?

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

Rahab is considered a woman of great faith, and she is held in high esteem in the Bible:

It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

Hebrews 1:31

All those thousands of people were now dead because they’d foolishly put their trust in man-made walls rather than in the living God who had created the stones. They’d heard the stories just as she had. Why had they refused to believe?

A Lineage of Grace, Francine Rivers

From Ephesians 2:8-9, what else do you learn about faith?

WOULD I READ THIS AGAIN??

Um YEAH. It’s like the Bible – I feel like if I read this over again, I’d find something new to learn from it or I’d notice something I didn’t the first read through.

OVERWHELMED

Most of us will never face an invading army as Rahab did, but we do face overwhelming situations of other kinds. What kinds of problems are you facing right now? What kind of choices do you have?

Let me know if you’ve read this before and what you thought in the comments!