TUESDAY

SCRIPTURE: Joshua 2:1-16

One of the more surprising things that I learned about the history of the Adventist church in North America is that our first General Conference president, John Byington, along with his family, helped assist fugitive slaves as they traveled north to Canada along the Underground Railroad. They did this even when doing so was in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. It was one of those interesting moments in time when seeking to follow where God was leading seemed to be in tension with the law of the land, and people had to make choices. It’s easier to identify with stories like Daniel in the Lion’s Den, or the three Hebrew captives being required to bow down to the golden statue on the plains of Dura, but it feels different when the examples land closer to home! Today’s passage is another story of a woman who would have been considered by many of the children of Israel to be on the margins (not only for certain aspects of her profession, but also because of the people she was seen to be associated with). She found herself making a choice between standing with the God of the children of Israel, or following the directives of the King of Jericho. We know her choice and the outcome, but how often do we pause to appreciate what it meant for her to respond as she did? Even as we might applaud her choice, the city that had been home to her certainly would not have. And what might she have experienced as she sought to become a part of a community that might still have trouble not seeing her as “one of them”?

And yet, Rahab stands as another example of a woman “on the margins” not only being included in God’s family, but also being recognized as one of those in the line of King David and ultimately Jesus (Matthew 1:5). As with the Samaritan woman and Ruth, once again we see God acting in ways that challenge conventional ways of thinking. As you reflect on yet another of these stories, consider the following:

• What common threads do you find that Rahab’s, Ruth’s, and the Samaritan woman’s stories share? To what extent do you see people struggling with similar things today?

• Have you ever been in a situation where you had to make a choice between the right thing and the expected thing (perhaps even the “legal” thing)? If so, how did you resolve it? If not, how do you think you would go about deciding what to do?

• Have you ever been in a situation where you, or someone you know, was in a position where you/they were technically a part of a group or community of people but were still treated as somewhat of an outsider, or at least not fully accepted as the same? How did you work through that? If you have observed or do observe this, what can you do to be helpful?

• How do you think the children of Israel would have responded to Rahab becoming part of their community? What do you think Rahab would likely have been experiencing as she made that transition?

• As you read and reflect on this story, whose experience do you resonate with or identify with the most easily? Why do you think that is?

• In what ways do you find this story interesting? Challenging? Reassuring? Troubling? Or something else?

As you reflect on this story, your own experience, and the unexpected and even gracious ways that people are included in the family of God, share with God what you are thinking about or what is on your heart.