God's Fame Throughout the Land [Joshua 2]

⁸Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,  ⁹and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. ¹⁰"For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹"When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹²"Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, ¹³and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death." ¹⁴So the men said to her, "Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you."

You probably know this story from Sunday School.  Rahab, the prostitute, harbored the two spies Joshua had sent to Jericho in her home and protected them from being caught.  Have you ever wondered why she risked her life for two men she didn't know?  It is because she had heard "how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed." She had heard of God's fame forty years ago and she had believed.   She believed that "He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

We praise You God that You do such wonderful and powerful things that man cannot ignore You.  Your fame spreads through all the earth that You are God.  Cause us to have faith like Rahab and not forget all the incredible things You have done in our own lives as well as in others around us.  Cause us to be willing to stake our lives on the truth that You are God in heaven and You are God on the earth.