Perhaps one of the greatest snares for the human heart is to seek a place of prominence. Pride has marked the course of man ever since he heeded the voice of the tempter in the garden in desiring to be "as gods." (Gen. 3:5.) His moral history will culminate in worship to a man, the beast, who not only accepts the place which belongs to God alone, but blasphemes God and all that is of God. (Rev. 13:4, 6; 19:10: 22:8, 9.) What a blessed contrast is the Lord of glory who humbled Himself, coming from highest glory to take the lowest place, not only in life, but also in death. (Phil. 2:5-8.)
The believer is instructed to let this same mind be in him, that is, to go on in a path of descension and humility. Surely this is unnatural for any, although the believer now has the life of Christ and delights to follow in the steps of his blessed Lord.
Three times in Scripture we read of persons descending from windows. As a door is the usual means of entrance and exit, departing through a window is immediately seen to be something out of the ordinary. Descending in humiliation is something that is out of the ordinary as well.
Paul warns the Colossians against a voluntary humility which is nothing more than pride in a subtle cloak of feigned abasement. This is not to be tolerated.
In the three instances alluded to, Josh. 2:15, 1 Sam. 19:12 and Acts 9:25, those who descended through windows were all preserved from imminent death. Likewise, humbling ourselves is a means of preserving our lives for the glory of God.
While the details differ in each case, certain features are prominent. In connection with the two spies who descended from Rahab's window, the scarlet cord by which they escaped is a most significant distinction. Scarlet speaks of the sufferings of Christ as well as earthly glory. If in any measure we lay hold of the sufferings and death of Christ for us, it will result in true humility, for it was our sins that caused Him to suffer. "Yet in sight of Calvary, contrite should my spirit be." The scarlet line was hung on the outside of the city wall. So Jesus suffered without the gate that our affections and feet might follow Him in a path of rejection and separation, not a path of popularity and honor.
David fled by means of the window and his wife misrepresented him by placing an idol in his bed. While Michal is to be commended for her efforts to save David, often people misrepresent others for the purpose of causing them pain and embarrassment. Michal's misrepresentation of David was used to give him time to escape. Perhaps the Lord has allowed us to be slandered or misrepresented in order that we will not be puffed up with pride and thus be preserved from a serious fall. "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Prov. 16:18. "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty; and before honor is humility." Prov. 18:12. David's day of honor was just ahead.
David fled to Ramah (the high places) instead of becoming self-righteous and indignant about false charges. May God give us grace to flee to the high places—the enjoyment of Christ in glory and our heavenly blessings in Him. The situation was out of David's control and his enemies found out the truth soon enough. How much there has been with each of us that if exposed would put us to shame. So, we need not be unduly ruffled if we are put in a bad light—it could easily be so. Soon all will be revealed with our Lord's own estimate. May this cause us to walk humbly before Him.
Paul was let down at night in a basket by His brethren at the outset of his public testimony. He was entirely dependent on his brethren. How important it is for the Lord's servant to realize that though the Lord Himself sends, directs, supports and is the One to whom he is ultimately accountable, he cannot take a place of independence from his brethren as though he did not need them. If this example were laid to heart, it would preserve us each from taking an assumed superior position over our brethren. How happy it is too, for the saints of God to work together for the support and protection of the Lord's servants as well as for the defense of Paul's doctrine of which Paul is a type.
With his brethren above him, Paul descended in a basket. Under the Law of Moses, the offering of first fruits, that which was wholly for God, was brought to the place of God's appointment in a basket (Deut. 26:2). Paul's life was characterized by complete devotedness to God. In his last days he said, "I am now ready to be offered." 2 Tim. 4:6. He ended his course as he had begun, with devotion and humility. As the sense of importance begins to swell within us, how good to contemplate our part in the sufferings of Christ, to acknowledge that our entire history is known of God, and to remember we are simply members one of another.
W. Brockmeier