Hanging by a Thread

It amazes me how so much of life seems to hang on a single thread. It often feels so fragile and delicate, as if all it takes to destroy it is a soft puff of air. We live life often worrying about things that could damage this fragile life, and the reality of such fragility hits home whenever we are faced with things like cancer, viruses, heart-diseases, tumors, and the like. Regardless of where you turn, life seems to be teetering on the edge of a cliff, ready to plunge over at any second.

This reality is also reflected in the history of the entire Bible. Again and again we witness the course of human history hanging on a single thread. Yet at the same time, that single thread is miraculously sustained and carried by the hand of the Creator. From the start, man sins and is exiled from Paradise, yet God promises a Reedemer. Man fills the earth with violence and gross sin. As a result God brings humanity to its knees by flooding the entire world, yet saves eight people to continue the human race. Later on, Abraham marries a barren wive, yet God provides a son to continue the family. We see the entire nation of Israel, through whom the promised Messiah is to come, caught between Pharoah’s whole army and the Red Sea, and yet God parts the waters.

This string continues past these events too. Israel rebels against God and is punished, yet the Davidic/Messianic line continues even through the exile. This line continues through the constant threat of total annihilation. King Herod commands that babies be killed, yet Joseph escapes with his family to Egypt. Satan tries to tempt Jesus and destroy His mission, yet Jesus emerges victorious. Then, at the pinnacle of this historical journey, history seems to dangle on the thinnest thread yet. The Jews kill Jesus, attempting to end the life of the Messiah. And Jesus rises from the dead.

From here on, history continues to dangle as the Church is put under deadly persecution, yet still continues on strongly. The Gospel reaches the Jews and Gentiles alike, regardless of storms, shipwrecks, sickness, beatings, stonings, imprisonment, threats of death, slaughtering of the saints, and on and on. Regardless of the size of the obstacle, regardless of how thin that thread seems to be, and regardless of how much force is placed on that thread, the sovereign hand of God is continually holding all things together. While life continues to hang on this seemingly fragile thread, there is never any chance of it snapping nor of us falling. Resting in the mighty hand of the sovereign God gives peace in life when that life seems to continuously dangle dangerously over the edge.