Joshua 2:1 "And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, 'Go, view the land, especially Jericho.' And they went and came into the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there."

For this act, Rahab and her family will be the only ones Joshua leaves alive when Jericho falls. (Joshua 6:25). She will dwell peacefully in Israel because she answered the Lord, even though she probably did not know that was what she was doing.

I see this story as symbolic for repentance. We can be living very sinful lives, but God will eventually send someone or something to "knock on our door", asking us to do something that will probably seem quite difficult or dangerous, or so far from our cultural standards that it may even seem wrong. God, in fact, is always reaching out to us in our sinfulness, but His efforts are not always as obvious as sending spies to our doors. We do, though, get one, two, or maybe even more of these opportunities in our lifetimes. When we take a risk and accept one, as Rahab did, that is all it takes: God moves in, takes over, everything works out well, and we get our place in the Promised Land.

In a world that feels so bad, so steeped in sin, that we sinners almost can't help but get caught up in some bad behavior, we should remember Rahab. She was corrupted by the evil of her time and place, living a life of what I'm sure seemed banal sin, when two unknown men came to her door asking her to take a risk that would clearly change her life one way or the other. Perhaps she had grown tired of the dead weight of living the way she was. That is, after all, how we feel when we are burdened with sin. Perhaps those spies knocked on the door at just the right time for her to be willing to change her life. In fact, there's no "perhaps" about it, God knew exactly to whom to send those spies.

God always knows exactly when to send these opportunities into our sinful lives, it is only up to us to take the risk, and gain the reward.