Spiritual Encouragement from a Spider

I will be like the dew to Israel; 

He will blossom like the lily, 

And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. 

His shoots will sprout, 

And his beauty will be like the olive tree

 And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.…

Hosea 14:5

Years ago we were heading out early one morning from our hotel near Killington, Vermont, on our way toward our favorite town, Woodstock.  The sun was rising higher in the sky as we descended the tall mountain into a valley.  Looking to the left we saw the most amazing sight - trees laced with spiderwebs, their intricate designs magnified by shiny dew drops, courtesy of the sun rays reflecting their own light through the prisms of water, creating an amazing masterpiece of artwork, there in an otherwise unremarkable field.

Anyone who knows me can tell you I don't like spiders!  Give me a snake any day.  lol.  Now that's not to say I won't jump sky high if I'm walking along and happen upon a snake, but they don't seem to strike the same fear in me as spiders.  There is just something about spiders that gives me the creeps.

Yet I have always found it fascinating to observe, from a safe distance, of course, spiders making their intricate orb webs.   

We usually have a resident spider on our deck most of the summer that just gets fatter and fatter sampling all the tasty morsels he has captured in his sticky web.  

But to me, what's even more fascinating, is to see a web get demolished in a summer evening thunderstorm, only to wake up the next day and find an even bigger, more intricate web where the old one used to be.  That spider must have worked all night creating the new web.  Of course he did! Otherwise, he wouldn't have the means to catch a steady supply of food for the next day.  I have watched this cycle repeated many times over a summer when gusty thunderstorms can be frequent.  Yet the spider maintains his diligence to ensure his nourishment.

We could learn a thing or two from spiderwebs and their creators.  

Diligence in preparing for that which sustains you is critical to a healthy spiritual life.

Like the spider who weaves his web every night, repairing or recreating that which was destroyed during the day, every evening we too must repair and reclaim that which was broken during the day. We do so by coming to the Word of God to rest in the presence of our Great Redeemer, who redeems every circumstance that touches our lives daily. 

For those of you who have never tried doing your Bible reading in the evening, I would like to encourage you to give it a try.  I realize this goes against the grain of the traditionally recommended morning devotions, but after you hear of my own experience with nighttime Bible reading, you might feel compelled to give it a try.  :-)

Let me first say I am in no way discounting morning Bible reading.  I truly wish that I was wired in such a way to effectively do my Bible reading in the morning.  And believe me, I have tried!  I had a friend once tell me that before her feet hit the floor in the morning, she would spend time in the Word.  So I followed her example, even setting my alarm to wake up earlier to read from my Bible.  But I found that I would start to fall back to sleep as I was reading.  Then a season in my life opened up where I had entire afternoons to spend time in the Word of God - an amazing blessing.  Last year, due to the hecticness of my life, I returned to an early morning Bible time.  But this time, I sat up in bed so that I wouldn't fall back to sleep, and although I indeed stayed awake, I was finding that I just didn't retain what I read.  If that wasn't bad enough, because of how hectic my life was, my mind would wander and I'd start thinking of all the things I had to do throughout the day, essentially becoming stressed while trying to comprehend what I was reading in the Bible.  Yeah, I'm special like that.  lol.  

This past October, I started doing my Bible reading in the evening before I settle down to unwind and watch a little TV.  For me, that could be anywhere from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.  And I must say, I have NEVER experienced such revelations studying the Word as I have reading my Bible in the evening.  Familiar passages that I have read countless times over the years are jumping out at me like never before with a clarity that is stunning.  Just last night I literally exclaimed out loud, "Wow!  I can't believe how much I am learning by doing my Bible time in the evening!"  

I recently read the following excerpt from the January 30th's portion of Streams in the Desert and it really resonated with me due to my own recent discovery of how fruitful it is to have an extended Bible time in the evening.

"Quietness and absorption bring the dew. At night when the leaf and blade are still, the vegetable pores are open to receive the refreshing and invigorating bath; so spiritual dew comes from quiet lingering in the Master's presence. Get still before Him. Haste will prevent your receiving the dew."  --Dr. Pardington

"Dew will never gather while there is either heat or wind. The temperature must fall, and the wind cease, and the air come to a point of coolness and rest--absolute rest, so to speak--before it can yield up its invisible particles of moisture to bedew either herb or flower. So the grace of God does not come forth to rest the soul of man until the still point is fairly and fully reached.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease:

Take from our souls the strain and stress;

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the pulses of desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, its beats expire:

Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,

O still small voice of calm!"

In the evening, all my striving ceases for the day.  I am getting ready to retire for the night.  There is nothing pressing on my mind that needs my attention - only sleep awaits.  I believe for me, personally, this is why my nighttime Bible reading experience has been so profound...  

...this spiritual dew has truly saturated me with a richness from the Word like none I've experienced at any other time  in my Christian walk.  Why?  Because I have been truly still before the Lord.  His dew drops settling over my spirit, bathing me in the light of His Word.

Like the spider who weaves His web in the evening, when we spend time in God's Word every night, we are weaving an intricately designed masterpiece with Words that repair our own personal circumstances and sinful bent, bringing with them the light and love of Christ that will reflect like diamonds, in the morning's light, the spiritual dew that rested upon us the evening before...

And all will see upon our countenance the radiance of the Son and evidences of the web of the Word that nourishes and sustains us.

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