One time I was invited to a friend’s home for dinner. While we were eating, I happened to see a spider on the wall. I hoped my hostess would not notice it, or she might be upset.
Another time I was visiting friends for a weekend. The family’s three children and I took a walk. When we returned, we found a big spider on the floor of the entrance hall. The children made quite a commotion over it, and one of them quickly stomped on it and squashed it.
I’m sure you could find a spider in my home right now. And I think you might even be able to find one some place in a king’s palace, if you ever had the opportunity to visit one.
Some people are frightened of spiders and they won’t go near them; to others they are ugly creatures that make them shiver, so they kill them. But spiders are really very wonderful and clever, and if you look closely at their webs, you cannot help but be amazed.
I want to tell you about a spider that saved a man’s life. This happened during the terrible massacre on Saint Bartholomew’s Day in the year 1572. King Charles IX of France did not like the Huguenots (who were Christians). He ordered, “Kill them all so that not a single one be left to reproach me!” Thousands of Huguenots were killed before it all ended.
One man who was saved was a baker. King Charles’s wicked soldiers were hunting for him to kill him, because they knew he was a Christian.
The baker knew they were hunting for him, so he climbed into his big oven, which was not heated that day and closed the door on himself. As soon as he did, God sent a little spider along to help him. This little spider spun a web all over the oven door.
When the soldiers searched the bakehouse, one of them suggested that the baker might be hiding in the oven. But another soldier said, “No man, he is not there; don’t you see the spider’s web all over the door?”
So they went away without opening the oven door, and the baker escaped.
There is a verse in the Bible that says, “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Proverbs 30:2828The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces. (Proverbs 30:28). What do you think it means? I’m sure it wasn’t put in the Bible just to tell us what we already know — that a spider can be found in a fancy palace as well as a simple bakehouse. There must be a deeper meaning; God must have some lesson to teach us from this verse.
We know that a spider is little and weak, and perhaps rather ugly, and not of much value, but, it is wise and takes hold with its hands and climbs into a place of safety.
Let’s just change the spider to sinner and think about it for a minute. Isn’t the sinner little and weak? And in God’s sight there is nothing uglier than sin! Then think about this — why should God, the Creator of the whole universe, think we are worth anything or even notice us?
This is truly a miracle — in spite of how worthless we are, God loves us! His love for the sinner is so great that He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and shed His blood to wash away all the sins of anyone who would believe Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).
Let us be wise like the spider. Let us take hold of the Lord Jesus Christ with hands of faith, accepting His love. He promises a place of safety in heaven from the punishment that is coming soon for sin.
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Romans 5:8,98But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:8‑9).
ML-06/29/1986