The People God Uses: Rahab (Wrong Resume)

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” — attributed to St. Augustine

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient.” — Hebrews 11:31

I was the last person I would have picked to be a minister. 

I had spent years studiously avoiding anything to do with church, God, faith, and especially Christianity. 

I became an agnostic, which for me meant that I didn't know for sure if there was a God or not, but I didn't really care. 

I lived my life on my terms, and by my own shaky moral compass. 

When I finally did return to faith (and to church), I still held all of it at arms' length, afraid of being sucked into it.  

That is why, when I began to feel called to go to seminary and become a pastor, I tried to beg off it all. 

Honestly, one of the many things that kept the idea alive in my heart was the knowledge that God seemed to have a habit of using the wrong kind of people.  

One of those people was a woman named Rahab, whose story appears in the book of Exodus.   

If you were assembling a list of people God might use to accomplish God's purposes, Rahab probably wouldn't make the first round of interviews.

She lived in a male-dominated world.

She was a foreigner.

She lived in Jericho, an enemy city.

And Scripture identifies her as a prostitute.

Not exactly the résumé we might expect.

And yet, when Israelite spies entered Jericho, Rahab hid them and helped them escape.

She had heard stories about Israel's God.

From outside the community of faith, she somehow recognized something others could not see.

She took an enormous risk.

And she became part of Israel's story.

But her story doesn't end there.

Matthew begins his Gospel with Jesus' genealogy.

Most ancient genealogies focused almost exclusively on men, but Matthew mentions several women.

One of them is Rahab.

There she is.

In Jesus' family tree.

I love that.

Because we human beings are very good at deciding who belongs on God's team.

We look at someone's past.

Their reputation.

Their mistakes.

Their background.

Their social status.

Their education.

Their theology.

Their circumstances.

And sometimes we quietly conclude:

God couldn't possibly use someone like that.

Then God does.

God has an annoying habit of crossing the boundaries we create.

Rahab reminds us that nobody's life can be reduced to the worst thing they've done, the label someone gave them, or the chapter they happen to be living right now.

God sees possibilities where we see categories.

Maybe you've been carrying a label yourself.

Divorced.

Addict.

Failure.

Dropout.

Difficult.

Unsuccessful.

Too much.

Not enough.

Maybe someone else gave it to you.

Maybe you gave it to yourself.

Either way, God knows your name.

Rahab's past wasn't erased.

It became part of a larger story of grace.

Yours can too.

God is remarkably uninterested in the labels we use to decide who is worthy of being included.

Prayer

God of surprising grace, forgive me for the ways I label others and the ways I label myself. Help me see people as you see them—not as categories or mistakes, but as beloved people filled with possibility. Remind me that no chapter of my story places me beyond your grace or your ability to use my life for good. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. What labels have other people placed on you?
2. What labels have you placed on yourself?
3. Who might God be inviting you to see differently?