It is common to see cows in Cotacachi – secured to a cord. Cows cross the main road. Cows will “mow” your lawn – free-of-charge. That is what they did in our incomplete property a little while back, secured to a cord – but not “free-of-charge”!
Our neighbor rotates the grazing area of her cows. During the “winter” (warm and rainy) season in Ecuador, the grass is lush and green, and so are the weeds. Every so often her cows “mow” our grass – and weeds. This particular cow, attached by a cord to a wooden structure on the ground, emerged into the limelight.
I was taking photographs of the cows, when the neighbor’s dogs – my special friends – started barking madly at the cow. They were protecting me from this monster – they must have thought!
The cow became enraged, and with ease cleared a landing 1,5 meters high, charging towards me. I ran into the house just in time.
And then the cow followed me . . . . . . eyes fixed on me!
Fortunately my “guards” continued barking, and she turned her gaze to them – mooing loudly, and which echoed through the empty house. She could not continue her charge, as the cord around her neck restrained her.
I have placed this incident on “black and white”, as I believe there is a lesson that we can learn from daily life here. Let us look at the terms “season” “cow”, “cord”, “charge” and “free-of-charge” taken from this scenario.
As the seasons change, so do the seasons in our Christians lives. In Ecclesiastes 3:1, King Solomon states: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” There are seasons in our lives when we are contentedly “grazing in a meadow” as it were. Then the enemy comes along, barking like a pack of dogs, luring us away from our “meadow experience”. Or we may see the example of the enraged cow, as the enemy, and as a threat to us, approaching us with calculated harm.
Unless there is a “cord”, our enemy Satan, will certainly charge toward us, and harm us. God has provided us with a number of “cords”. Rahab’s cord is a good example. It was a red cord, that she had to hang out of her window, so that when the Israelites attacked Jericho, both she and her family would be rescued and taken to safety. Our red cord is JESUS, but we must use Him as our “Rope of Rescue”. Then Solomon refers to a “triple cord” that cannot be broken.
“Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12) There is a world of truth in this verse – in fact three distinct scenes. SCENE 1. Someone is being attacked by another person. SCENE 2. A second person comes into focus, to aid the one being attacked. At times we are attacked by Satan and we endure hardship alone (humanly speaking). The next example is of a brother or sister in Christ, who comes alongside of us, and who stands beside us in our troubles, and who intercedes to the Lord on our behalf. SCENE 3. This scene is the only guarantee that we will “win the war” in our souls – when we will escape to safety as the enemy charges us. And this cord is “free-of-charge”. This Sacred Cord is called Jesus. The Holy Spirit will bind all three of us together – a Cord that cannot be broken – except by our unbelief and disobedience.
How are we guaranteed that we can depend on God to bind us to Himself? Hosea 11:4 tells us clearly: “I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love”. God is true to His Word.
If we are charged by Satan and caught up in a spiritual war – “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity (emptiness and falsehood), and sin as if with a cart rope.” (Isaiah 5:18) What “cord” can we depend on when we are being charged by the enemy of our souls?
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10:13).
God controls the cords of Satan that bind us!
“Lessons from Life” in Ecuador . . . . . . Ecuadawn.
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