Spiders, for all their ‘ick’ factor, or ‘eek’ factor, are fascinating little engineers. The precise geometry of their webs is second to none. One morning at home, with the sun glinting just right, it was possible to see a single, eight-foot-long strand of silk stretching in mid-air from the top of a bush and flowing upward to the front corner of our garage, where an immaculate death trap had been spun. After both the strand and the web were removed, it was impressive to see the entire thing determinedly rebuilt in the same place the following day! Once, while at a campground, a friend went to her car one morning to discover her steering wheel completely, and intricately, webbed in. An other-worldly splendor, again with the sun shining directly on the sticky night’s work.
We marvel at these, and many other of God’s creatures. They display such planning, such accuracy, such persistence! So, should we really be surprised when God, who created our rarely befriended insects mentioned above, works one plan, over millennia, for the rescuing of the pièce de résistance of His creation, mankind? Should we be surprised that He accomplishes this plan in ways that make our heads spin with the incredulity of it all? Should we marvel at the exquisite beauty of what He’s done for us, what He’s doing in us? Well, probably not, but that’s how we are, isn’t it? Every answered prayer comes as a delightful surprise. Every healing, too. Every provision ‘out of nowhere’ bolsters our faith. Every worship song that deeply touches our hearts causes thanksgiving to rise up and out of us anew. We have, in Jesus, per the words of François du Toit from South Africa, a ‘redeemed innocence.’ It speaks to us of the fresh start Jesus makes possible and the non-extinguishable hope that is now ours. PD
