Sermon for the Young….

Years ago, my father mentioned that Jonathan Edwards wrote a treatise on spiders when he was 17 years old. He pointed out to me that Puritans often studied creation to observe and marvel at the attributes clearly declared. There truly are many things we can perceive and learn from God’s amazing creation, but I never thought of the spider as such until several weeks ago.

We have a book containing addresses to young children by J.C Ryle. One evening, while reading through a sermon on Proverbs 30:24-28 I was convicted and encouraged. Ryle was illustrating how the Proverbs instruct us to learn from four animals that are little and wise.

Verse 28 historically reads, “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” As I began reading to my kids, I thought, “this will be cute and instructive…” We have spiders outside the front window that we watch build their webs, so I hoped that it would actually make some sense to their little brains. Ryle says,

“The spider is a poor little feeble thing, you know. But the spider takes great pains in making her web. The spider creeps into grand houses, and climbs to the top of the finest rooms. And there she spins her web. There seems no keeping her out. The servants come and brush the web away. The spider sets to work at once, and makes it again new. No insect is so persevering as the spider. She does her work over and over again. She will not give up.”

I was shocked to find these words encouraging me! This is what we do! The same work over and over again! Our ‘webs’ get torn down and rebuilt daily (or multiple times a day, like my clean kitchen table and floor; every time I feed my little ones, the floors look as if I don’t know what a broom is)! I had been getting worn down, and not finding the joy and contentment that I ought to in the tasks that God has given me. I had forgotten I am called to joyfully use my energies in creating a diligent atmosphere for my family.

My Lord is faithful in all things and I am thankful for the example of a small creature that perseveres, reminding me to be faithful in little things.