When I think about sacrifice—the blood of an innocent life being shed—I'll admit it: my walls go up. I feel vulnerable.
A place like this old fortress with its massive metal gate and surrounding walls offers the promise of protection. But that depends on whether the enemy is outside, or within. What if these walls aren't meant to keep people out, but rather to keep people in? What if what's behind this wall isn't a fortress of protection, but a prison?
Rahab had hidden the two Israelite spies that Joshua sent in to scope out Jericho. She was a Canaanite with a sordid past—a former prostitute—insignificant, powerless. From the outside, she appeared to be safe behind the walls of Jericho, but in truth, those walls had imprisoned her in her sinful past—a past that consumed her with shame.
As Rahab tossed a crimson cord out the window—an outward sign of her inward faith—the wall that stood strong between her and everything that God had promised His people crumbled. God's promises were now her promises. Deliverance that had been originally limited to God's people was now extended to her. Her prison cell was unlocked, the gate flung open, and she was made free.
What about you? Are you stuck in a prison of your past? Are the walls of your life—your anxiety, your greed, your addiction, your relationship—keeping you in a place you long to escape? The same freedom that was offered to Rahab is being offered to you. In fact, whatever barrier that seems to have you imprisoned has already been broken down.
The door is open. The only question is whether you're ready to let go of your past and walk through.
GOD BLESS YOU.