Webs

I was in my garage the other day and the next thing I knew I was flailing at a spider’s web that I had walked into. I was in the same spot just a few hours earlier and there was no web. How quickly that spider created something that was hard to see but easily capable of ensnaring someone.

Charles Spurgeon likened a spider’s web to a hypocrite’s religion. He said “A spider’s web is a marvel of skill. Look at it and admire the cunning hunter’s wiles. The spider’s web comes from the creature’s own bowels. While a bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers and yet spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves. A spider’s web is very frail. It is curiously wrought but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant’s broom. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work.”

These deceptive webs are being spun at breakneck speeds by so many in our government and our church. The two seem interconnected by the conjoining of lies and half-truths spun like a web to ensnare even those who say they are seeking truth. And sadly, those who purport to being followers of Jesus have no fear of embracing and walking in lockstep with the constant web being spun from Donald Trump and his fellow arachnids. They become easily beguiled by a web of deceit.

God’s prophet speaks to this in Isaiah 59:5-6 saying, “They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave a spider’s web; He who eats of their egg dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments. Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity. And the act of violence is in their hands.” Isaiah says these people will not know peace.

As I removed that web from myself, the line by Sir Walter Scott from his poem “Marmion” came to mind. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” And is this where we are. Small lies must be enforced with more lies. Greater falsehoods. Whatever is necessary to keep the web from being torn down. People end up doing whatever is necessary to support dishonest actions. And when they become entangled, they find that the adhesive binding action in that web can bend with even the most ardent cry of sorrow when caught. And tears do not affect it any more than rain.

Today, people weaving webs of deceit and destruction masquerading as spiders, appear to be working overtime. Ephesians 4 tells us we should not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine and the trickery of men nor the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Yet those words seem to go unheard. Spurgeon gives his final warning on spider’s webs and those who spin them saying, “Such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’s house: He will see to it that they and those who spin them will be destroyed forever.” Have no part in these evil works of darkness. Pray His vision. His direction. His understanding. Stand. Blessings.