Answer: Rahab
Insight: Rahab acted on her belief that Israel’s God was the true God. Her courageous faith saved her household and gave her a place in the ancestry of Jesus.
Bible Stumpers
People Who Stepped Out in Faith
They acted before they knew what would happen next.
Some risked their lives. Some gave what little they had. Others trusted God’s promise before they could see how He would fulfill it.
Their circumstances were very different, but each faced the same decision: Would they trust God enough to take the next step?
Below are 10 questions about people who stepped out in faith, plus a bonus. See how many you can answer before checking.
1. Which Canaanite woman risked execution by hiding two Israelite spies in Jericho and secured her family’s safety when the city’s walls fell?
2. Which faithful Israelite rejected the fearful report of ten other spies, remained confident God would give them the land, and claimed the hill country of Hebron as his inheritance at age 85?
Answer: Caleb
Reference: Numbers 13–14; Joshua 14:6–15
Insight: Caleb trusted God’s promise when nearly everyone around him focused on the obstacles. Decades later, his faith remained strong enough to claim the inheritance God had promised him.
3. Which reluctant judge obeyed God by reducing his army from 32,000 to just 300 men, then defeated a vast enemy force using trumpets, torches, and clay jars?
Answer: Gideon
Reference: Judges 7
Insight: God deliberately reduced Gideon’s army so Israel could not take credit for the victory. Gideon’s small force demonstrated that success depends on God’s power, not human strength.
4. Which son of King Saul climbed up to a Philistine outpost with only his armor-bearer, declaring that “nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few,” and helped trigger a major victory?
Answer: Jonathan
Reference: 1 Samuel 14:1–23
Insight: Jonathan did not presume to know exactly what God would do, but he trusted completely in what God could do. His courageous step of faith helped turn fear into victory for Israel.
5. When an impoverished foreign widow used her last handful of flour and oil to feed Elijah, what two miracles did God later perform for her household?
Answer: Her flour and oil did not run out, and her son was raised from the dead.
Reference: 1 Kings 17:8–24
Insight: The widow obeyed Elijah’s instruction while facing starvation herself. God sustained her household throughout the famine and later demonstrated His power over death by restoring her son.
6. Which man responded to an unexpected visit from Jesus by promising to give half his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he may have cheated four times the amount?
Answer: Zacchaeus
Reference: Luke 19:1–10
Insight: Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus produced more than words. His willingness to give generously and make restitution demonstrated genuine repentance and a transformed life.
7. Which unnamed official began the journey home before receiving any proof that his dying son would recover, then learned that the boy’s fever had disappeared at the exact hour Jesus said, “Your son will live”?
Answer: The royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum
Reference: John 4:46–53
Insight: The official took Jesus at His word and departed before seeing any evidence that his request had been answered. His son was healed, and the experience led his entire household to believe.
8. Which messenger from the church at Philippi nearly died while serving Paul, but experienced God’s mercy, recovered, and was sent home with instructions that believers should honor people like him?
Answer: Epaphroditus
Reference: Philippians 2:25–30
Insight: Epaphroditus risked his life to serve Christ and support Paul when the Philippians could not be there themselves. God mercifully restored him, and Paul held him up as an example of sacrificial service worthy of honor.
9. Which Roman governor summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear God’s word, then believed after witnessing a sorcerer struck blind for attempting to turn him away from the faith?
Answer: Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus
Reference: Acts 13:6–12
Insight: Sergius Paulus actively sought to hear God’s message despite another man’s efforts to interfere. After witnessing God’s power, he believed and was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.
10. Which Roman centurion in Caesarea, known for his prayers and generosity, obeyed an angel by sending for the apostle Peter, leading to his household hearing the gospel and receiving the Holy Spirit?
Answer: Cornelius
Reference: Acts 10
Insight: Cornelius responded immediately to the direction God gave him, even before he understood what Peter would say. His obedience opened the way for his household to hear the gospel and marked a pivotal moment in its spread to the Gentiles.
Bonus: Which childless woman prayed so fervently at Shiloh that the priest Eli thought she was drunk, vowed to give her son back to the LORD, and was later blessed with three more sons and two daughters?
Answer: Hannah
Reference: 1 Samuel 1:9–20; 2:18–21
Insight: Hannah kept her vow and gave Samuel to the LORD’s service while he was still a young child. God honored her sacrifice not only by raising up Samuel as a prophet, but by filling her home with five more children.
Which of these faithful people do you identify with most?
