Red shoelace

 Or rather the cord i can  use to tighten the hood on my sweatshirts. Would you believe me if I told you that a simple scarlet cord like this saved a woman’s life? And not only the woman, but also her whole family? Actually, it wasn’t the thread that saved her; it was God. And the woman wasn’t exactly the kind of person you’d expect God to save. But this woman played an important part in the Old and New Testaments.

Rahab lived in the city of Jericho, which was in the land of Canaan. The Lord had promised to give Canaan to the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, and when the Israelites crossed into Canaan, Jericho was the first city they came to. 
The people of Canaan were strong and powerful, and they were not about to just hand their land over to the Israelites. They knew about the Israelites, and they knew about all the Lord had done to help them since they left Egypt. In spite of all this, the people of Jericho believed they would be victorious over Israel. 
But not Rahab! When two spies entered the city and needed a place to hide, Rahab helped them. She knew that God would give Israel victory over Jericho, and she was not about to stand against God. 
Because Rahab helped the two spies, God spared Rahab and her family. The spies told Rahab to hang a scarlet cord out the window of her apartment. When the city of Jericho fell, Rahab’s house was unharmed. And when the Israelites invaded, they spared everyone in Rahab’s house. Rahab went on to marry an Israelite man. In fact, in the book of Matthew, Rahab is listed in the genealogy of Jesus, making her one of Jesus’ earthly great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers. 
Sometimes in our lives, we try to resist God’s will. We know what God wants and what he wants from us, but we think we can do things on our own. We live in a world that tries to defy God in almost everything, don’t we? But God has a way of getting what he wants, whether we like it or not, and Scripture tells us that in the end, God will be victorious. 
Rahab knew better than to try to resist God. Rather than stand with the people of Jericho, she surrendered. She risked her life to help the spies because she knew God would have the victory. It takes a lot of courage to stand with God when the whole world is against him, but if we do, we will stand victorious with him in the end!