“There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. ...
the spider taketh hold with her hands,
and is in kings’ palaces.”
Proverbs 30:24,28
The fall season brings an intruder into the house: the spider. Springtime ants travel together on the highways of the counter tops, but the spider chooses her dwelling in the lofty corner away from the busy scene below. Unless you’re looking up, you might not see her. She spins her art work from her bowels and forms a beautiful and functional sanctuary.
Interestingly, the spider is spoken of both in the singular and the feminine. I like to think of the spider as the older women in the assembly, the one who is in the September, October or November of her life. The sister who, through wrenching sorrow or trial has persevered, and held on to the treasures that exist in the King’s Palace. Her web, subtle in design and a product of her inmost bowels, catches those flies that would hinder the fragrance of the apothecary’s pure ointment (Ecc. 10:1; Song of Sol. 1:3). Although she retires from the busy scene below, her hands are not slack to repair her web while watching over the souls of those she loves. Many times she works alone on her knees, lifting her hands in prayer. Her work, largely unnoticed, shows the value she puts upon the King, and one day she will hear Him say, “She hath done what she could” ... .“Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Mark 14:8; Matt. 25:23).