Day 6: Unlikely threads
Now the men had said to [Rahab], “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window… “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Joshua 2:17, 18, 21).
Our Father in heaven, Your name is hallowed, Your name is holy. No deeds can compare with Yours... For You are great and do marvelous deeds; You alone are God (Psalm 86:8,10). You alone are from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2)— God who is enthroned from of old, who does not change (Psalm 55:19), who holds all the numberless threads of history, and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).
We see an amazing example of this in the account of Rabab and the spies (Joshua 2), and in an "epilogue" in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Who but You, O Lord, could weave through a scarlet cord a flawless plan of deliverance— the means of immediate victory for a single nation, and the means and the symbol of hope and redemption for people from every nation, tribe and tongue?
Who but You, could course the bloodline of Your Messiah through the veins of one who was an "outsider" in every human sense of the word— so that You could offer peace to [those] who were far away, as well as to those who were near? (Ephesians 2:17).
Father, thank You for showing us that Your cords of human kindness, and Your ties of love (Hosea 11:4) cover everyone. Your ways are unlike those of a world that pours out scorn, contempt, and abuse on foreigners and strangers, tax collectors and sinners (Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 9:11).
Keep us from the hate-filled, corruptive influences of the world. Help us not to cast in our lot among them, or share their purse (Proverbs 1:14). Give us the courage to rise up for You against the evildoers, to stand up for You against the workers of iniquity. (Psalm 94:16).
Lord, Your grace reaches all because [Christ] died for all... Help us to regard no one from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5: 15-16)— to know that there are no outsiders, for You have destroyed... the dividing wall of hostility, and You Yourself are our peace (Ephesians 2:14).
Remind us that for every one we encounter in life, You use the unlikeliest threads of their history and their circumstances to accomplish Your purpose. Impress on us the sober and humble recognition that we too, are the unlikeliest of threads; yet You knit us together, fearfully and wonderfully, with other unlikely, unmatching, unworthy, threads into one holy birth— to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God forever (1 Peter 2: 9-10).
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