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Joshua 10:10 – Joshua 15:7

I have a raspberry garden.

It produces raspberries for most of the summer, and I love to eat them with a bowl of vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips.

For breakfast.

But the garden requires caretaking.  If I am not careful it can be overtaken by soft, willowy, green weeds.  Without constant watch care the weeds will eventually choke out the raspberries completely.

Every spring it is the same.

The task at hand overwhelms us.

We have to pay particular attention to every single weed.  None can be left behind…not even the very small ones…or the ones with a pretty, pink flower on the top.  The job requires that nothing be left undone.

It takes a long time.

We pull out every weed… one, by one, by one…clear to its roots, until none are left, so there is no chance of overtaking the raspberries.

When we are finished we rest…and observe our work, and wait for the fruit to grow.

The process reminds me of chapter 11 and 12 in the book of Joshua, when the people of Israel go to war against all of the cities in the Promised Land.

“As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.”  (Joshua 11:15)

He took all the land, and “Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.”  (Joshua 11:18)

Joshua left nothing undone…even though it took a long time.

Did you notice the list in chapter twelve?

The king of Jericho, one;

The king of Jerusalem, one;

The king of Makkedah, one;

Joshua checked them off…one, by one, by one…as they were conquered completely ––none left, so there would be no chance of Israel being overtaken.

I have to be honest.  I worried a little as I read these war chapters.  Were the women and the little children that dangerous?  Did they have to destroy every one?

In my worrying, I decided to ask Brother Butler about that.  He led me to 1 Nephi 17:32-35…

“And after they had crossed the river Jordan he did make them mighty unto the driving out of the children of the land, yea, unto the scattering them to destruction.  And now, do ye suppose that the children of this land, who were in the land of promise, who were driven out by our fathers, do ye suppose that they were righteous?  Behold, I say unto you, Nay…this people had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fullness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them unto their destruction.”

I remember the raspberry garden and realize that sometimes a very small seed can quickly overtake a very large garden…and the Lord knows this…and He knows how to protect us against small things that could eventually destroy us.

My friend and I talked about this lesson.  She compared the people in the land to the sins of our lives.  We can’t just focus on the big ones, the dangerous ones.  We have to remember to work on the little ones, even the ones that seem innocent.  We must keep trying to conquer them until the day they are gone.

One day we will rest from this constant battle…but now we fight.

It might take a long time, but we must leave nothing undone.

The conquering will make us stronger…

I love the verse in Joshua 14: 11-12 when Caleb says, “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.  Now therefore, give me this mountain…the Lord will be with me.”

Joshua 6:5 – Joshua 10:9

Very few women are mentioned within the accounts of the scriptures, and rarely are they mentioned by name.

For that reason I tried to give special attention to the story of Rahab that we read about yesterday and today.  I find myself wondering how, in a city so filled with wickedness, she came to hear the story of the Red Sea.  I am even more intrigued with the fact that her pondering upon that subject must have caused her to act.  For, somewhere between the parting of the Red Sea and the moment when two spies showed up on her doorstep, Rahab had come to know the Lord.  This becomes clear in her conversation with the two spies, “For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”  (Joshua 2:11)

Through the kindness of her actions in hiding them and sparing their lives, Rahab was promised a kindness from the spies… a promise that she would live through the destruction of Jericho.  But that wasn’t good enough for Rahab who wanted that promise extended to “my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters…” (Joshua 2:13)

In order to make sure she and her family would be saved in the moment of destruction, the two spies instructed her, “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee…”  (Joshua 2:18)

“…and she bound the scarlet line in the window.”  (Joshua 2:21)

In Chapter six we read of the moment when Jericho was destroyed, “And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”  (Joshua 6:25)

Joshua saved Rahab.

My heart can’t help but be drawn to the symbolism in this story.

A young women whose heart had been prepared.  Two messengers who knocked on her door.

In that moment, prepared, she opened her heart and her home to the story they shared.  Through their conversation she came to know the Lord of Israel.  Once they had left, she shared that belief with her father, her mother, her brothers and her sisters.  Because she had allowed those two men entrance into her home, and through her faith, her entire family was saved.

My favorite image from this story is the scarlet thread hung in the window of her home.  It reminds me of the lamb’s blood carefully placed on each door in Egypt.  The scarlet thread  Rahab hung carefully in her window would serve as a reminder that her home was to be spared from the destruction.  Passed over.  Protected.

Each of us needs a scarlet thread in our window.  A reminder that just as Joshua saved Rahab, the Savior can save each of us.

I am led to ponder the atonement and the realization that to fully participate in the blessing of the atonement we cannot be a casual observer.  It is through our faith, our works, and our longing to know more of the Lord that we fully experience the blessings.  The protection.

For a moment I wonder if we could try to consider the scarlet thread moments of our own lives…the moments that lead us to participate in the atonement.

I am led to think about the Sacrament.

A reminder to always remember Him.

To take upon us His name so that we might be saved.

His name.

A scarlet thread.

The thought of it motivates me to begin preparing today for the Sabbath.

In that moment of Sunday worship I do not want to be just a casual observer.

I want to prepare my heart, just as Rahab did, to know more of the Lord, and to come to more fully understand His atonement.

Through my faith, and through my actions.

Waiting For the Promise by Elspeth Young

Ensign, September 2006

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