The Fragile Cord Of Trust

Rahab securely tied a red cord from her window (Joshua 2:21). She trusted the spies would honor their vow to spare her and her family as long as the cord was in its place.

Later the Israelite army marched in silence around the city seven days before the walls fell flat in a loud, thunderous roar. Outside she could hear the battle cries mixed with the screams of her people as the city was overtaken. She clutched her family tighter while outside swords were brandished and arrows rained from the sky.

Beloved, sometimes all we have is a thin, fragile cord of trust in the Lord when going through difficult and trying circumstances. We have no strength to deliver ourselves. There seems no way out of the circumstance. The mind reels to think of any possibility to escape but we come up short. Soon panic and anxiety over takes us drowning out His voice.

There is no reason not to the trust the Lord but we struggle to place our hands in His own. We fail to believe He will come through for us. We can't see a way out and forget that He walks through walls. Our memory fails of the many times He poured out His grace in our desperate hour. Israel stood on the shore of the Red Sea with the Egyptian army fast on their heels. Instead of breaking out in a song of praise trusting God will deliver them after all the wonders He did in Egypt they complained He brought them out to kill them (Exodus 14:11).

We must understand that once we have surrender our lives to Christ it is of His goodwill and pleasure to do with us whatever He desires. We must not give way to resentment in the path He has ordained for our lives. Resentment will always undermine trust in His providence. Israel had to go to the Red Sea and through the wilderness before entering the Promise Land. Each step of their journey as it is true in our own lives was to deepened a dependency and trust in His goodness.

Isaiah 45:9 says, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?" (KJV).

When we trust God in shaping His life in us it will lend trust to every area of our lives. It will not be easy as we will be tested many times. If Rahab argued with the spies or decided to take matters in her own hands she would have died including her family. If Israel decided not to walk toward the water but run in the opposite direction it would have been disastrous.

Daniel's friends said it best, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." (Daniel 3:17, KJV). They were thrown in a raging furnace but there God met them walking through the flames.

Some of us will go through flood, fire, persecutions and various trials but they only serve to strengthen the cord of trust in God. We have this promise in Ecclesiastes 4:12, "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." (KJV). With God the Father, the Spirit and Christ intertwining in our lives we can not fail or be severed from His love. God is not ashamed of our weak and fragile cord of trust. He is pleased when we ask for His help. And He delights in our willingness to be stretched in the process without becoming bitter or resentful.

One day your cord of trust will help pull someone up from a well of despair and bondage.