Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
I do not like spiders. In fact, I have a very strong fear of these eight-legged creatures. It doesn’t matter if they are big and scary, or tiny and harmless, they still frighten me. However, a spider became an inspiration for me as I faced a difficult situation and found my hope dwindling.
When a spider builds its web, it weaves a beautifully intricate pattern composed of silken threads. The web is its home, and its main function is to capture prey for food. Occasionally, I find a web near my garden where I like to sit and read my Bible. I grab a nearby stick and use it to wipe away the web in hopes that the spider will not return to build again. But it does. The next day, another web is there! Again, it is shimmering in the sunlight with tiny drops of dew on its threads taunting me. Bravely, I wipe it away again, feeling victorious until I see it! A tiny little creature is suspended by a thin silk thread dangling from a broken web. The spider simply hangs on, swaying in the breeze. I realize that the delicate little thread of silk is its only hope, and it clings to it. Resigned, I know that later it will move up the thread and begin the process of web-making once more, maybe hoping its web will finally remain intact. For whatever reason, I can’t kill the spider. I actually feel a wee bit of compassion for it, so I let it be. I wonder if its heart is sad when I destroy its web, and then once the web is restored, it becomes a hopeful “web of life” to the spider by providing a way to get food and a place to dwell.
There are times when my hopes are threatened with destruction. The web of life that binds together my heart, spirit, and soul becomes heavy and in despair. But like the little spider, I also have a thread of hope that is my lifeline, and that thread of hope is the Word of God. No matter how many times I am knocked down and lose hope, no matter how many times my “web of life” is torn asunder, I have a scarlet thread that connects me to my Saviour. It alone is my hope, and I cling to it. It is what the Holy Spirit uses to encourage me. It is God’s infallible Word that will overcome any fears or doubts I harbor in my heart, and when my thread of hope is rebuilt into a web of spiritual truths, a “tree of life” springs up within me, encouraging me in my situations, and helping me remember that God causes all things to work together “…for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Like that little spider, I just need to hang on and trust God.
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
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Which verses in the Word of God has sustained you when hope was waning?