Have you ever felt like your life has already been set? Kind of like, this is who I am, and there is nothing more for me? For instance, “I’m stuck in this job. I’ll just be a (insert whatever you do) for the rest of my life,” or “IUgh, I guess I’ve peaked.” Sounds depressing, right? Yes, and the reason why it sounds depressing is because all of us have some kind of dream or desire to do something bigger than ourselves. What destroys that kind of dream and stops so many of us from taking the next step is the little voice of doubt and fear.

This little voice can be extremely powerful. There is no telling how many have fallen into it’s trap.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
— 1 Peter 5:8

Satan wants to stop us from what God has prepared for us. He will use anything to distract us from what God has already put in place. He will use our sin, our past, even our own dreams to keep us from doing God’s work.

What I love about the story of Rahab is we have a woman who, by all accounts, should have fallen into this trap, but she overcame the little voice. At some point, Rahab had dreams and hopes for her life, and I doubt that any of them had to do with being a prostitute. We would assume that a prostitute can’t or won’t be used by God, but what’s amazing about God is that he can use anyone. Rahab had a choice. The king of Jericho told her to give up the spies. She could have easily done that and felt like she had done something for her people and felt good about herself. Or she could protect the spies, giving them a place to hide and a way to leave. The second choice went against her community and everyone around her, but you should read what she says about God:

Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
— Joshua 2:8–11

Notice what she chose. She chose to follow God. In verse 11 she literally says, “for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” She chose to help the spies and risk everything. She didn’t let the little voice in her head telling her that she was just a prostitute keep her from doing the work of God. Then God blessed her for her obedience, and she became a huge player in the story of Jesus.

She could have felt stuck being who she was, but she chose to follow the Lord. What is it that you keep telling yourself? You’re just a <blank>? God didn’t create you for a boring, stuck-in-a-rut life. He created you to be a passionate follower of Jesus. And with Jesus comes the greatest life you can live. He told us in his Word that he came to give life abundantly! This is available for us! We have access to this, and the small voice (Satan) will tell us to look at what we’ve done or who we are. He will try set the trap for us to stop following Jesus.

But what’s incredible about Jesus is that he knows the trap is there, and he knows your past, and he knows who you are, yet he still wants to use you. He put himself on the cross so that we can have life, and so we can chose to follow him. Instead of listening to the small voice, listen to the cross, to the empty grave, to the one who created you and your future!