Lesson 6: Saved from destruction

Read Joshua 5 and 6

*When everything around you is being destroyed, how do you respond?

Rahab must have been watching during each of the six days as the Israelite army marched silently around the city. She, and all the rest of the people in the city, would have known this was not the usual way for an army to act when they attacked a city. Since God had already put fear into the hearts of the people, it is only reasonable to believe there must have been fear in this home too – fear because they could not know what was happening.

For six days the column of soldiers approached and then circled the city, and went away again. For six days there was no sound other than the tramping of their feet. Then the seventh day the column approached again, but this time they kept circling the city. At last, on a signal from the trumpets, the men turned to face the walls of the city. Did Rahab expect to see a secret weapon? I think we can be certain she did not expect the men to simply stand there and shout at the city.

With the shouting, however, suddenly the city began to shake. The walls began to fall away from the city, and homes connected to the walls were torn apart as a result. Dust filled the air. Then the army, using the fallen stones as steps, entered the city and began killing everyone they found – everyone except Rahab and her family. The men whose lives she had saved now came to her to bring her and her family to safety.


Often we think that believing and trusting in Jesus means we will have a life without trouble. This is not true. Jesus tells us in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We also read in Philippians 4:6 that we are not to be “anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

We must remember that the trouble of this world was never God’s choice – it was ours when we chose to believe in ourselves (sin) rather than in Him. We believe we know what is best for us because we are living our life. Since we cannot see God, we think we can see our circumstances better than He can. We cannot truly understand eternity because we have never experienced anything that is not limited by time and space. But God wants us to learn to trust in Him.

Rahab believed what the spies had told her – she believed God would do what these men had promised. Even though nothing she saw made any sense, and she could not know she would not die when the walls started to fall, she still believed God. We must believe what God Himself has told us in the Bible. Even when everything around us looks like disaster, He is still able to do all He has promised. But remember – His ultimate best is waiting for us when we see Him in glory. Even death is a blessing for those of us who belong to Him. When we truly believe this, everything in this life simply becomes another lesson in learning to trust Him more.