I’ve chosen Rahab’s plea for her family members as this coming week’s portion from the Scripture Memory Calendar:
Spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. -Joshua 2:13
If you use a little creative license, the words and syllables almost fit the tune, Not my father and my mother, but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer…
I think Rahab has given us one of the finest examples anywhere of standing-in-the-gap intercession for people we love. She did it to save her family members from certain physical death. And yet in so doing she brought her whole family into a soul-saving relationship with the “God of heaven above and on earth beneath” (2:11). We read that her entire family continued on as part of the God-fearing community of Israel (6:23-25). Wow! Imagine how often they thanked her, and how regularly they’re still thanking her!
Rahab was bold in her request. She didn’t just ask to save a few. “Spare my father and mymother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them!” Can you imagine how packed her house must have been? And as the week progressed (with the army of Israel marching around Jericho each day!) how many fence-sitting relatives decided standing-room-only was just fine?
The parallels are striking. Like Rahab, we know our unbelieving family members are headed for certain death; that the One True God is their only hope; and that throwing caution to the wind and boldly importuning the LORD on their behalf could in fact alter their eternal destiny.
So, friends, add this text to your Scripture-praying arsenal and wear it out before the throne of grace on behalf of those you love. Plead boldly and unashamedly to “deliver their lives from death.” Don’t ask for just a few!
Let’s be Rahabs!