September 26, 2017

A Cord of Three Strands

“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”  Eccl. 4:12

“Lower the rope!”  It did not seem like very strong rope and given the size of the container it was going to try and pull up to the top of the bridge, well, things looked doubtful.  Those of us standing up top along the bridge looked down by the river and tried to be encouraging.  A container was on the bank of the river and the only way up was to try and get a rope around it and pull it up.  It was a challenge for sure.

The rope was old and appeared to have gotten much use over the years.  As the people below secured the rope around the container and tied it as tightly as possible, we gave a pull.  The rope held as the bin lifted off the ground.  Slowly, we pulled and slowly, the container was brought closer to us.  The whole process must have taken 45 minutes to complete, but finally we got this big box back up onto the bridge.  We began to untie the knotted rope.

A rope with only one cord would have quickly failed.  Two cords probably would not have been enough to do the job.   Only this rope – the one with three cords, had the strength to do the job.  The author of Ecclesiastes confirms it with this Scripture, and for those who follow Jesus, He is our third strand.  He is the One who sees to it that things are not quickly or easily broken.  With Jesus as our secure cord, the job gets done.