Mike’s Musings ….

Spiders In King’s Palaces

Proverbs 30:28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

   I’m not particularly fond of spiders or suffer from arachnophobia (fear of spiders). What I detest about them are their webs! They seem to thrive in my home office (a separate building from the house). I’ve dusted, knocked them down, sprayed, and even simultaneously set off two “foggers” when one should have been enough. Still, those nasty strings of webbing exist. No, they aren’t like you’d find in abandoned homes or barns, etc. But regardless of how often I dust, clean, and spray, it seems they quickly return I must wipe them down again!

   The lesson Solomon presents is one of PERSISTENCE. The spider is undaunted by any endeavor to defeat him, and even kings must accept their presence. In modern times, we can seal the cracks, hire exterminators, keep the house as clean as possible, and the spider will still return! It isn’t an evil insect: it is one of God’s creatures that teaches us PERSISTENCE.

   Another lesson might be that of TOLERANCE. As mentioned, even the strongest of efforts will not completely defeat the diligence of the spider. And while we knock down the webs, exclaim our disgust for their webs when they surprise us when we walk blindly into them and continue to rid our places of occupancy of their presence, we find ourselves required to TOLERATE them. Is not life that way? Are there not many things that we’d rather not deal with, but have no way to completely banish them from our lives? Such things require TOLERANCE and the spider’s presence (figuratively and literally) is among those things!

   I muse on the several lessons taught by the DETERMINED spider. In many areas, the Christian would do well to observe this creature and pattern his/her life after the skills of this insect. How DETERMINED are to make heaven your eternity? How TOLERANT are you of those whose determination is as great to keep you OUT of heaven as yours must be to ENTER heaven? You’ll get knocked down, sprayed with onslaughts of matters that could kill lesser determined souls, and some will not TOLERATE you any more than you can tolerate them! But like the spider, you must remain determined and tolerant – heaven is too precious to lose!