Man cannot understand the Lord's operations, because they are done in the light. Ethan, David's Levite, said that Rahab had been broken, as if she had been wounded to death, showing that a person is converted in this way. In that woman's heart there was a desire to know the God of Israel, who would change her life (Joshua 2). The people in Jericho who proclaimed the Creator's deeds on behalf of the Israelites made Rahab love them.

           It was the same for the woman who had been ill for 12 years, spending all her income on doctors. When she heard about Jesus and His miracles, she felt that she would be healed if she touched Him or the hem of His garment. She went out looking for the Lord and, one day, almost discouraged, she found herself in the crowd with Him and was healed by touching Him (Luke 8.43-48).

           The Master spoke to Nicodemus about the need to be broken in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Some people who attend our churches are far from receiving the blessings, because they find it unnecessary to repent and be born again - an essential condition for enjoying salvation. Jesus declared: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3.5).

           Ethan said that Rahab was broken as if she had been wounded to death. The account of God's miracles, such as the Israelites' passage through the Red Sea, shocked the woman. In her heart, she thought: “If He did that, what wouldn't He do more for His people?”. She sensed that Israel would occupy the land of Jericho, where she lived, and all of Canaan, but this fact did not frighten her. On the contrary, it made her understand that if she sought the Lord, she would be redeemed. As a prostitute, Rahab would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but by being born again, she was saved (Galatians 5:19-21).

           Rahab probably wanted to know more about the true God, different from the one she and her people worshipped. One day, two Israelites knocked on her door. Instead of going there to sin, they went to hide from the people and the local authorities. Rahab was already an Israelite at heart and offered to take them in. She hid them on the roof and then gave them instructions on how to get out.

           It's amazing how God prepares our way, as long as we are in His service. No evil would befall His servants. Before they left the place, Rahab confessed that her people were well and truly broken because of the Israelites and asked them: Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have show you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token (Josue 2.12). In the invasion of Jericho, Joshua sent two men to get Rahab and her family out.

         Isaiah speaks of this incident, directing the Church to pray to enter a foreign land with the Gospel: Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not the arm that cut Rahab apart and wounded the serpent? (Isaiah 51.9). How about starting to intercede now?

           In Christ, with love,

           R. R. Soares