In 1720 an inquisitive young man set to observing spiders. What had captivated his mind was the curiosity of how a spider can spin a web from tree to tree. Through curious observation and various experiments he came to a satisfactory answer. Upon all of this he noted:
[From this] we see the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, and even the insects and those that are most despicable.
Apparently the spider never scurried it’s way out of this young man’s imagination. In 1741 that same man penned these words:
and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock.
And again
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.
That young man was Jonathan Edwards and the sermon from 1741 was his famous Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God. I mention Edwards’ early work, Of Insects, and his later iconic sermon, to make the point that God uses the whole of our lives unto His glory.
When Edwards was captivated by that spider there was no thought in his mind that twenty years later he would use a spider web to illustrate the plight of sinful mankind. He just observed God’s glory in the spider and his web and enjoyed it. That’s the way these illustrations like this come. We live life. We enjoy God and His creation and somewhere along the way God picks those back up and uses them to further His kingdom.
The lesson for us today, as pastors, writers, teachers, and disciples is to live life. If you go through the world looking for illustrations, sermon topics, blog articles, etc. you will miss life. Just live, observe, and enjoy. God might take a spider from twenty years ago and give you a powerful illustration.
