Every Morning — September 8, 2026: Wrong Side of the Wall
God's family tree has room for the address you're ashamed of.
Key Scripture
Joshua 2:1, 3–4, 15 (WEB)
"Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly… and the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, 'Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to search out all the land.' The woman took the two men and hid them… Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the city wall, and she lived on the wall."
Devotional
Let's start with the résumé nobody would approve.
She ran a house built on a wall on the edge of a pagan city, made her living the oldest way a woman could, and had absolutely no religious credentials to speak of. If Jericho had a church directory, Rahab would not have been in it.
And yet — here she is, front and center in one of the most important military operations in Israel's history, hiding two Hebrew spies under stalks of flax on her roof while soldiers pound on her door.
I don't know about you, but I would not have picked her for this job. God apparently disagreed.
When the king's men came asking about the spies, Rahab lied, redirected them, and then quietly told the men the truth: "I know that Yahweh has given you the land… for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath" (Joshua 2:9, 11, WEB). That's a stronger theological statement than some of Israel's own leaders managed. It came from a woman the city had already written off.
Here's the part that should stop you mid-scroll: this same Rahab shows up centuries later in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Not as a footnote. Not with an asterisk explaining her past. Just listed, plainly, as part of the bloodline of the Messiah.
Heaven, apparently, doesn't redact your file the way you'd expect.
Maybe you've got a "side of town" you hope nobody finds out about. A season you don't bring up at church. A reputation you're still quietly outrunning. Rahab's story isn't in Scripture as a scandal to whisper about — it's there as proof of what God does with people the world has already filed under "not usable."
Hebrews puts it plainly: "By faith the prostitute Rahab didn't perish with those who were disobedient" (Hebrews 11:31). Not "the reformed woman." Not "the former prostitute." Just Rahab, named exactly as she was, saved by faith exactly where she was.
She didn't have to fix her whole life before she helped change the course of Israel's history. She just had to act on the little faith she had, with the door already closing in on her.
That's the invitation today. You don't need a clean record to be useful to God. You need a willingness to act on what little you believe, right where you currently are — wall address and all.
"Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Rahab had both. So can you.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that my past isn't the final word on my usefulness to You. Where I've been hiding a part of my story out of shame, give me the courage Rahab had — to act on faith exactly where I am. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Dig Deeper
Joshua 2:1–24
Joshua 6:22–25
Matthew 1:1–6
Hebrews 11:31
James 2:25–26
Reading Plan
Today's Reading
Joshua 2
Matthew 1
James 2
Today's Thought
God's family tree was never limited to people with clean records — just people willing to act on the faith they had.
From Every Morning — September 2026 by Margaret Nwakaego Usio.