
Well last week after shopping at the supermarket, we went home, packed away the shopping and sat down for a quiet coffee prior to going to the gym. ‘Where is my handbag? Oh I know I will have left it in the car!’ I stated. About two hours later on the way to the gym I looked round the car, no handbag!!
David was determined that we would find it before going to the gym as he knew I would go over and over my morning activities which involved my handbag! After all my bag contains my ‘life’ - well, my phone on which there are all my contacts, my Bible, daily readings; then there is my purse with my cards and driving licence; free bus pass and library tickets!! No wonder men are starting to carry bags, how else could they have their valuables with them? So we drove back to the supermarket, me praying in the Spirit, feeling sick in my stomach and my mind going hundreds of miles per hour working out what to do with the problems that were going to result with the loss of my bag!
On the way to the supermarket I remembered that I had tied a red cord to my bag several months ago and immediately I knew my bag was safe and God had His angel taking care of it wherever I had left it so I could just praise Him by faith for a good outcome.
When we reached the store, the ladies in customer services just looked up at me and laughed; they had been looking at my photo from my driving licence for three hours, and had tried to call me but of course, my phone was in my bag!! I was able to identify it by the red cord hanging from the handle. I was really overjoyed and very thankful to the kind ladies and to the customer who had handed it in, all in one piece! I had left it on the trolley and put it in the farthest away trolley bay. I only needed to sign to take back possession of my ‘life’ again!
It wasn't the red cord that prevented a thief from removing all the contents of my bag, it was what the red cord represented that allowed me to have confidence in the Word of God that He would keep it safe.
Some years ago I studied the wonderfully powerful story of Rahab (Joshua 2) who as a pub owner had the added income from prostitution. She had heard a lot of gossip in her position on the outer walls of Jericho, about what the God of Israel had done for His children as they came out of Egypt and journeyed through life, and were now camped outside her city - Jericho. She knew that this was trouble and that it may be a good idea to trust this God! And He gave her an opportunity to see how wonderful He is, by sending two men to her Inn to spy out the land and hear the gossip of what was happening in the city. When the king’s messengers came to catch the spies she cleverly hid them and showed them how to get away safely, but not before they had explained to Rahab that she must tie a scarlet cord in her window if she wanted to save herself and her whole family from the destruction that was coming on her city, Joshua 2:17-19.
It wasn't long after that the soldiers and the rest of the Israelites marched round the city walls once a day for six days and then on the seventh day seven times. When the priests blew the trumpets and the people shouted, all the walls fell down except for Rahab’s house (Joshua 6). As the soldiers ran into the city killing all in their way, the life of Rahab and her family was completely protected as she was a marked woman (marked and identified by the red cord!) Joshua 6:22-24. She went on to marry Salmon and her son was Boaz who married Ruth and is in the family line of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1:5. What a turn around from a life steeped in insecurity; pain; abuse; worthlessness and rejection.
Rahab was not saved because she had a scarlet cord tied in her window; it was what the cord represented that saved her and her family. The children of Israel had seen the power of putting the blood of the sacrificed lamb over the door posts and lintels of their homes. This caused the angel of death to pass over when they were leaving Egypt, and so all their lives were saved. So this scarlet cord represented the protection of blood to cover all sin. So when Rahab could do nothing to help herself or her family she looked to the covenant promise in the Blood, ‘our lives for your lives’ Joshua 2:14. All the way through the Bible we see God’s awesome compassion towards anyone who has a heart that wants to follow Him, He always gives a way through and out the other side of dark situations but He expects us to do it His way. I don’t suppose Rahab’s neighbours thought too much about a scarlet cord in her window, but she must have checked it several times a day.
‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will SAY of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Then He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day…’ There are so many promises of protection with conditions in Psalm 91.
So it helps to pray every morning for the Blood of Jesus to cover all that is precious to us and keep speaking it out. Don’t go round talking fear and then wonder why bad things happen. We are able to increase our faith till we know that if we saw a burglar walking away with our handbag we could say to him ‘drop that in Jesus Name, it is protected by the Blood of Jesus Christ’! Be like Rahab, trust the covenant blood of Jesus Christ to save and protect our families. Please let us show the world that Jesus is alive today and that He is all-powerful. We don't to show off about who we are, but to demonstrate by our lives Who He is and that without Him we are nothing.
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