The most difficult thing for me to grasp, for us to grasp, is the notion of unconditional love – that God loves us regardless of what we have done – that He loves us not because we try hard to be good or be obedient, but simply because He is love – that there is not one thing that ever keep God from pursuing us.
That's what's most striking to me about Rahab. Rahab, like everyone else in Jericho, had been living a sinful life. She had worshipped other idols and she had done things that were hurtful to herself and to others. She had done things that Christians today would think are awful. But God loved her. And pursued her.
Just as He did with the Israelites. It wasn't because the Israelites were good that God chose them as His people. They weren't. They whined and griped and complained. They were always disobedient, even though they had seen the awesome power of God at work in Egypt, and through the wilderness. But God never gave up on them, and continually pursued them, and still does, even to this day.
And that's how God is with me. Even thought I know God, and really want to please Him and try to do the things I know He wants me to do, I fail Him all the time. But God loves me and pursues me and will never give up on me.
It's called grace – God giving us what we do not deserve. He loves me not because of my behavior, but because He is God, and He is love. He blesses me, not because I have done good things or earned rewards through my obedience, but because He is God, and loves to give His blessings.
I think it's difficult for me, and for us, to understand grace because it's the opposite of what we learn in the world. We learn that rewards are based on performance – when we do good, we're rewarded, and when we do bad, we're punished. Jobs are based on performance, sports are based on performance, even relationships are based on performance.
Except for the relationship with God, which is not based on performance, but grace. That's the message of the cross. God loves us, not because we are good. He loves us because He is good, and wants to love us, and wants us to love Him. He loves us so much that He gave His Son, Jesus, to die for us and to rise again so that we can be forgiven, and live like the children of God we were meant to be. And all our sins are forgiven.
Oh, there are still consequences to sin. If we are disobedient and do things which are hurtful to us or to others, God will still forgive us, but we still experience the hurt. For me, the greatest hurt when I have been disobedient, or failed to trust God fully, is how it makes me feel. It makes my heart sad. It hurts to think I have done something to sadden the One who has loved me so much. And knowing how much He loves me makes me want to love Him all the more.
Now, I'm learning to live like Rahab did, by trusting in the power and love of God. I grew up as a believer. My parents were believers, and for a long time, I lived kind of on automatic – I simply went about life and believed in God and that was about all there was to it. For the last 4 years, I'm learning how to live by faith, to trust all the promises that God makes in His Word, to rely on Him to forgive me and even to provide me with what He knows I need.
When my softball career at Oklahoma State was finished, I went back for a 5th year to finish my education. For four years, I had associated with the other players on the softball team. They were the ones I spent the most time with. I knew, for a number of reasons, I would not be associating with them any longer. And I had no friends, at least not the kind I was wanting, the kind who love God and follow Him. So I asked God to provide me with friends that would help me in my faith. I had to rely entirely upon Him. And He led me to a Young Life chapter where I was immediately surrounded by 10 awesome friends.
Sometimes we hear about the power of God, like Rahab did. She had heard all the things God had done. But she had never seen His power. She simply trusted that what she had heard was true. And when she trusted, she experienced His power in her own life.
In a way, that's the way it is for us. We hear of all the power of God. We read about it in His Word. We are told that He loves us and will always love us and that we are completely forgiven by the cross. The real miracle comes when we believe and trust that what we've heard is true. Then His power is more than just something we've heard about, it's something we experience.