Our Faith Matters
Most people who have heard my story know that I went through an extended time of singleness. This was not fun for me on most accounts. However, it was good for me in countless ways. It forced me to really believe what I said I believed about God loving me, wanting the best for me, hearing my prayers, knowing me. It forced me to insist on my own value as a woman and believe in the calling that God has for me as an individual. It also drove me to really see a bigger vision for marriage and family.
I remember one day, I was in a worship service and I was feeling very passed over. I worked for 11 years with college-aged students. So, I saw many generations of 20 somethings get married before I got married at 33. I was feeling dejected and sad, ignored by the opposite sex and just generally undesirable. I raised my hands in worship as an act of surrender to God. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I became willing for the Holy Spirit to tenderize my heart.
I saw an hourglass on its side. The left side was dark. Then in the middle a light turned on and the right side was bright. I was instantly reminded of Rahab (one of my favorite characters in the Bible). Rahab was from a Canaanite family. She was somehow led into prostitution or was a madam and earned a living that way for some time before she heard about the Hebrew nation coming against her people.
At some point in Rahab’s life she lifted her eyes from her dismal existence and dared to believe that things could be different. She dared to believe that the God of the Jews could actually save her because of His goodness, not hers. What an incredible picture of the Gospel coming out of the heart and mind of a Gentile woman long before Jesus’ time!
Rahab’s faith was put into action by saving the Hebrew spies that came her way. She sided with them and asked them to save her when they came to invade Jericho. And they told her to bring her entire family into her part of the wall and hang a scarlet cord outside of her window. That room would be spared. The rest would not.
So, Rahab saved her entire family but then she married in the lineage of the Jews and had babies that knew the God of Israel. She was an ancestor of David and an ancestor of King Jesus Himself.
WOW!! All because of a woman’s faith in God, her entire lineage changed.
God told me that day, “Naomi, it matters. Your faith matters. It matters not only for you and your own happiness. It matters for generations that will come after you. They will receive the inheritance of your faith and your story and your willingness to believe.”
Our faith matters. And it matters not only for us but for the generations to come. Do you live your life like this? How do you choose this every day?