Have you ever been so eager to grab an opportunity that you jumped ahead before thinking it through? Afraid to miss God’s plan, you talked yourself into taking a risk, only to regret it later?
Yeah, I’m right there with you.
I’ve given myself a few pep talks, convincing myself I need to be brave and just do it. Then I end up wishing I hadn’t taken the risk, backpedaling to the safety of my comfort zone.
So how do we avoid this back and forth battle with taking risks?
A Woman Who Trusted God’s Promise to Her
Scripture describes Rahab as “a harlot” in Joshua 2:1. But her past sins fade away when we see how she risked her own life to help Joshua’s men spy out the land.
Rahab knew what was about to happen to her city, and she acknowledged God’s sovereignty. “...for the lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below,” (Joshua 2:11).
She shared her belief and extended an offer to Joshua’s men.
She would help them in exchange for her family’s protection. The men agreed. As a result, Joshua spared Rahab. She and her family lived among the Israelites from the day the walls of her city fell. (Joshua 6:25)
Rahab took a big risk, setting her life on a course to be used by God in an even bigger way.
Rahab’s trust in God to do what He promised gave her the courage to make daring decisions.
So how did she know what to do? How did she discern that first step?
When You Can’t Decide What to Do
Rahab’s direction to step out in faith began long before the moment the spies showed up at her door. She chose to live daily in the promises of God. We can learn so much from this brave lady!
When we live led by the Holy Spirit, we will develop confidence in our decisions. We will hear God more clearly as we trust Him to bring calm when we don’t know how to move forward. The answer is to daily release control to Him.
Let’s think of Rahab the next time we sense God leading us to deeper waters, and deeper trust. We can release fear and face life’s challenges with wisdom and risk-taking faith.
Lord, help me release fear and face life’s challenges with wisdom and risk-taking faith.
Have you seen the Walking with Rahab 5-Day Challenge? It’s a separate free resource in the Life Enrichment Library here in my online space, so you’ll need to follow this link to sign up for it.
If you love learning from women in the Bible, you’ll love the Rahab email study:) And if you’d like to learn even more about this bold woman of the Bible, check out the book Cinched: Living With Unwavering Trust in an Unfailing God.
Blessings,
Kristine
A portion of this devotion is an excerpt from an article by Kristine Brown, “3 Women in the Bible Who Took a Big Risk,” originally published on Crosswalk.com.