Once I was having my dinner at a nice house with a large party, but what was my surprise on looking up at the ceiling to see a fine big spider. I hoped the lady of the house would not notice it!
I was staying at another large house, where there were three little children, and one bright morning took them for a walk before dinner, but when we returned we found a spider in the entrance hall!
In hundreds of cottages you might see a spider, and very likely in some room even in the king’s palace you could find one!
Some folks are very frightened of spiders, and there are others who call them nasty, ugly creatures! But they are really very wonderful and clever; and if you examine their webs you cannot help being astonished.
A spider was once the means of saving a man’s life. He was a baker, a good Christian man, but the wicked soldiers were hunting for him, and wanted to kill him during one of the fearful massacres of the Christians. The baker got into his big oven, which was not heated that day, and closed the door upon himself, hoping his enemies would not find him. As soon as he did so, God sent one of His little servants in the form of a spider, which wove its web all over the oven door. When the soldiers searched the bakehouse, one suggested that he might be hidden away in the oven, but another said, “No, man, he is not there; don’t you see a spider’s web all over the door?” So they went away, and the baker’s life was spared.
But now let us look at the text again. “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” What do you think it means?
The spider is little, weak, and perhaps rather ugly, certainly not of much value, but the Scripture says she is “exceeding wise.” With her hands she climbs to a place of safety, even in kings’ palaces, where she would least likely to be. Now just change the word spider to SINNER. Is not the sinner little, and weak, and ugly too in the sight of God? But God loves the sinner in spite of that and has prepared a mansion in the skies for all those who by faith lay hold of His promise, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37). Those who come and lay hold of His great salvation by simply trusting in the Lord Jesus, His beloved Son, Who gave Himself for sinners upon the cross, will one day be found in the Father’s house.
So, dear friends, learn wisdom from the spider: lay hold of the Lord Jesus and make Him your Saviour now while He still offers Himself to you.
ML 04/05/1959