“The LORD your God is indeed God

in heaven above and on earth below.”  

–Joshua 2:11b               

More than twenty years ago, Lori and I were keeping a secret. After numerous conversations with the search committee from a Presbyterian church in Pennsylvania, there came the moment we knew I was going to the recommended candidate for their next pastor. We reached that understanding in March, but the congregational meeting to confirm wasn’t until Mother’s Day. Thus, for two months, we kept our news quiet, telling only a few close friends. As the time in-between events dragged on, the weight of that secret grew heavy. 

About a week before returning to The Keystone State for the members’ vote, I went to see a long-time parishioner of my North Carolina congregation. Kathleen had recently moved to a care facility and I had not yet seen her there. When I arrived, Kathleen wasn’t in her room and soon found her napping in a chair down the hall. I sat down and spoke. 

“Hi Kathleen, it’s John Willingham.” Opening her eyes, her eyebrows shot up. “I can’t believe you’ve come all this way to see me!” “It’s not that far,” I replied, “and I haven’t been able to visit in a while. How have you been?” “I’m fine,” she answered. As we talked, though, it became clear that she was a bit confused, mixing up events and people, blurring the past and present. I didn’t try to correct her. After a few minutes, she said again “I just can’t believe you’re here!” 

Before I could respond, Kathleen went on to add “We were all so sad at the church when you told us you were leaving. Thank you for traveling all this way to see me.” Her words startled me. I knew the secret wasn’t out, but even in her confused state, she spoke a truth she did not know. When we ended our conversation a short time later, I departed with this odd feeling of wondering from where Kathleen’s words had come.

The Biblical scene recalled by the verse above evokes the same reaction for me. In the events prior to it, the Israelites had ended their time in the wilderness. Before taking land promised to their ancestors, Joshua sends two spies to explore the territory. The men enter the house of a woman named Rahab and spend the night there. Somehow, the king of Jericho gets wind of their visit and sends messengers demanding that Rahab release them. She lies, telling the royal agents that the spies have already left.  

As the search party departs, the story moves to the rooftop where the men are hiding in stalks of flax. “I know that the LORD has given you the land,”  Rahab begins. “We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.” She then utters this profession of faith: “The LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below.”  She goes on to extract a deal from the spies to protect her family during the invasion to come in exchange for their safety. When they agree, Rahab helps the men escape by a rope that lowers them over the city wall. She ties the agreed-upon-signal of a crimson cord in the window to ensure her family’s protection when the Israelite army returns. The spies tell Joshua all that Rahab did for them and when the battle occurs, she and her family are brought to safety.

It is a wonderful narrative from Joshua chapter 2 that I encourage you to read. Doing so again leaves me to wonder how Rahab learned the truth that she spoke. How did she know the way God freed the Israelites by passing through the Red Sea?  She was not a Jew and those events had occurred decades earlier. Secular histories from that era make no mention of the Israelites’ release suggesting it was an insignificant event for the region. Somehow, though, she became aware of it. 

Furthermore, I wonder how Rahab came to understand the nature of God and become the first person in the book of Joshua to profess such faith.. There were no evangelists sent out by the Israelites as they were too busy preparing for war. So, how did she come to learn of and believe in God?

It’s possible that between the time of the actual events in Jericho and writing them down years later, editors added details to make Rahab’s actions more clearly ones of faith. After all, in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, she is one of only four women listed as she marries a Jewish man which makes her an ancestor of the Savior. So, just like some speeches never made on the floor of Congress appear in The Congressional Record, perhaps her faithful words were later additions.

Even accepting the narrative at face value does not explain how Rahab could articulate so well the nature of God. I cannot account for how a 21st century woman in a care facility spoke the truth about my future before it happened either. Both events leave me wondering. Perhaps you can think of similar times In your own journey.

For how does a person speak just the word you need to hear, having no idea of the devastating phone call just received?  Why does a vibrant trust in Jesus take hold in one person and not another who has grown up in the same household? How is it that a job offer comes out of the blue just before foreclosure begins or a mass disappear from a x-ray before any kind of treatment starts? 

Certainly it’s possible that any of those occasions and others like them are evidence of God’s Spirit at work. Yet at the very least, such moments are meant to leave us celebrating the mysterious ways of our Maker. And cause us simply to give thanks once more for otherwise-unexplainable gifts.

God of mystery, there is much I do not grasp about the events of my days and those recorded in the pages of Scripture. Even as I continue to ponder such occasions, help me always to celebrate the wonder of you. Amen.