Did they sin?

Rahab did not even stammer, she was trembling from her head to her toes. She could feel the heat rising. She knew what the soldiers of Jericho were going to ask…she could hear the two spies’ last shuffles as they discreetly hid themselves from view. Opening her door, she came face to face with not only the Kings’ soldiers, but also a moral dilemma. Would she tell the truth…or lie?

            “We come in the name of the King, bring forth the men that have come to you, to this house, for they are spies!”

Did she hesitate? From the passage it is doubtful since they believed her…her answer was simple and part truth: “They had come, but are gone now, but if you run fast you will catch them!” The first part is truth, they had come.

She chose to lie, but two lives were saved…does the ends justify the means? After all she was never rebuked by God.

(For the whole account/further study see Joshua 2)

David’s heart was beating something fierce. The fear within him rose until it was choking him, the pressure in his throat made it hard to swallow, and the heat of the moment was upon him. As he stood before King Achish, a fear swept over him. But he like Rahab not only faced danger but also a choice…would he lie or be truthful?

In a moment of time a choice was to be made, and as he stood trembling before this king, with the fear of death stinging him, he feigned a mental disorder.

Of course we know that David was in his right mind…so he therefore lied…but his life was saved, and God again never said anything against him for this…so do the ends justify the means?

Just because God does not say something specific, does it means that it is okay? What do we do with “Thou shalt not lie”??? Should that alone be enough evidence to show the sin of David and Rahab? The Bible is clear isn’t it??

“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

( For the whole account/further study see 1 Samuel 21)

Abraham and Sarah were taking the long trek to Egypt. Watching Sarah’s beautiful features, Abraham’s love for her swelled within him, he could not imagine having her taken from him. And so he purposed in his mind to tell Pharaoh that she was his sister. “Then they won’t take her.” He thought he had it all figured out…leaning on your own understanding always seems to give that side affect (Prov. 3:5-6) but God has a way of brining us quickly down from that cloud and showing us just who is boss, Who is to be obeyed at ALL costs at ALL times! Turns out that Sarah was taken anyway, but God in His sovereignty protected her. Abraham lied…but Sarah was still protected so does the ends justify the means?? Did God let that lie just slip??

And there was I, arriving at work one day. I clocked in, nothing new and turned to head to my room, when my boss called me into the office. Walking in I figured that perhaps she wanted me to go on bus run…or perhaps if I am really lucky she has reassigned me to another room and I won’t have to spend my day with the 14 terrible twos! But neither of those had she in mind.

My co-worker and I had built a good relationship, she is a Christian and a very hard worker, and she always tries her best. But my boss had something against her, not sure why. She always seemed to be looking for the worst in my co-worker, even if it was a small things she would hone in on it and make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Looking at me, she simply asked “Has ____ ever done anything that she should not.”

Now in a daycare those are some words that you never want to hear, especially in todays day and age where false accusations are made by parents all the time. Without real thought, (I don’t always think well” on the spot” I often need to step back and think things through.)

I said “No”, but then an incident from about a year previous randomly popped into my head…and I had a moment just like David and Rahab…would I tell the truth or lie?

This time I told the truth, I shared the account which was nothing too serious and assured my boss, that I was sure that ___ had learned from it and would never do it again. She thanked me and promised me that she would never let ___ know that it was me that told.

So I proceeded to my room and began changing the endless diapers. Watching the clock I counted down the time till ___ would arrive. Before long she came through the door, and I could tell by her body language that something was amiss. She immediately started asking my other two co-workers if they had told our boss a story about her. They of course said “no.” Then came the moment in time when I again faced a moment to speak truth and trust God, or to take things into my own hands and sin.

I could feel the heat come to my cheeks, she turned and looked me square in the eye, she looked almost doubtful that I would do it but asked anyway “Bethany…did you tell our boss that I did this?” In that instant I chose to take things into my own hands….leaning on my own understanding of the situation (Prov. 3:5-6). “No.”

At one point she left the room, I turned to my other co-workers…”I just lied to her…I can’t believe I just did that…I should tell her the truth.” They both said “No, just leave it.” And so I did.

And the rest of the day went well as far as our relating to one another, but inside my stomach was turning and my heart was amuck.

That night the stories of David and Rahab came to my mind ( not a coincidence). And I knew that they both like me had faced the fear of man, and chose to fear man more than God and chose to take things into their own hands instead of trusting their Almighty Maker who is able to answer beyond anything we can ever ask or imagine.

Now I understand the debate on these passages…that God never rebuked them.

You know our God truly is amazing! He will always get the glory and His purposes will always be accomplished! Even when we sin, He is glorified! He has that wonderful way about Him to take sin…ugly and black as it is and use it for His glory…I mean think of Samson…of Paul before he got saved and all the persecutors of the Christians, the Bible says that they grew stronger under persecution…think about it they grew stronger in their faith because of someone else’s sin!

Think of JUDAS for goodness sake!
So whether you are a Paul, totally sold out for Christ, totally engaged in the battle for worship and service, or whether you are Judas who has started playing for the opposing team, or whether you are a Pharisee who is worshipping the true God but with the wrong motives, take NOTE you will still be used of God! He has a wonderful power to take and turn things inside out and use them for His glory!

So as I contemplated a lot of these things that night, I knew what had to be done!
I called my mom and she too told me the same thing. So the next day, with my good relationship and testimony to lose (but really it had already been lost because I had already sinned against God and her.) I told the truth. You should have seen the faces of my other two co-workers who had told me to just leave it…they were shocked. And to see the look of shock and anger on her face, to feel the weight of her anger the rest of that day, even the two year olds could feel it and knew something was wrong.

I love what my dad said, “you know Bethy, things will be different from here on out. Things will never be the same,  because you sinned. And just because you made it right does not mean that everything goes back to normal, there are always consequences to sin whether you see them right away or not.”

And how right was he! Things were different and still are. Oh yes she is no longer mad at me, but she def. does not treat me the same, there is still that density between us. But I am thankful that things have healed for the most part and I am thankful for the mercy and grace of my wonderful Father in heaven!

So I believe that what David and Rahab and Abe (and myself as well) was all wrong. I believe that God’s Word always stands true (“thou shalt not lie.”) and that there are never “loop holes” to the written and clear Word of God. Sure there are gray areas (music…playing cards going to the theater..) and the Spirit works in those areas.  But when it comes to the black and white it is THUS SAITH THE LORD and there is no way around that!
However I gladly welcome discussion, and would love to hear from you what your thoughts are! Thanks for reading, and may God shed the light of His countenance on this subject (or just help us to see the light that has been shining there all along??)