Safe Haven
"Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family" Josh. 6:25.

"I feel like a butterfly freed from a cocoon," Sita said as her fingers deftly guided blue cloth under the pulsing needle of a treadle sewing machine.

"Tell us why," said Samjhana.

Six Nepali women sat in the single room that served as factory, kitchen and sleeping quarters. Sita and Samjhana worked at sewing machines. Three women added artful stitching to garments. And Chandra, a recent arrival, slumped motionlessly with vacant eyes.

"I arrived here hopeless," Sita began her story. "What hope is there when your parents sell you into prostitution? Even after escaping from eight years of such degradation, I was homeless. But then Samjhana graciously welcomed me into this haven and taught me a trade, so I could support myself honorably. Thank you, Samjhana!"

"The thanks go to God," Samjhana said, "who led me to make my home a half-way house for freed Nepali prostitutes."

"At first," Sita added, "the stories Samjhana told about her God filled me with guilt. Then I learned about Rahab, the prostitute from the city of Jericho. She too came from a land lacking God's Word. Just as her immoral city was scheduled to be destroyed, I felt condemned by God's commands that I failed to keep."

Sita pinned together two pieces of material and continued, "Everything changed for Rahab when she realized God was not only mighty, but also merciful. Why else would He have delivered the Hebrews from slavery under the Egyptians? Everything changed for me when God showed me the kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose death frees those who have been slaves of sin and evil."

Pulling the blouse from the machine, Sita added, "Sisters, my life is like this blouse. Although it appears complete, it needs some finishing touches."

"What do you mean?" asked the newcomer Chandra, her eyes fixed on the storyteller.

"This morning as I was worshiping, God opened my eyes to the bitterness I have harbored toward my parents for selling me into prostitution. When I confessed my bitterness to the Lord, He not only forgave me, He renewed my love for my parents, so that I was able to forgive them also. Then, I opened my Bible and reread the story of Rahab, and there God's Word showed me what to do next."

"What?" asked Chandra.

"Jericho was going to be destroyed soon. But because Rahab declared her faith in God, the Hebrew spies promised that anyone within her house would be spared. Imagine what might have happened next. Rahab could have been satisfied just to save herself. She could have thought, 'It's too risky to tell my parents and other relatives, because they might turn me in to the authorities.'"

"So what do you intend to do?" wondered Chandra.

"I will leave this safe haven and go home to my parent's village. God protected Rahab as she introduced her family to the true God. He can protect me too as I tell my parents about Jesus Christ, the only safe haven."

1. What apparent hope is there for young girls sold into slavery and prostitution? Yet in the story of Rahab, God's Word includes a special mission promise for such women and their families.
2. Imagine Rahab's conversations with her family. Imagine Sita's conversations with her parents.
3. Read also Heb. 11:30-31.