• Evil People Are Like Spiders

    This is post #4 in my current series, #40before40: What I’m Loving and What I’m Learning. This week’s theme is *fear*. Thanks for taking the time to join me.

    Do you ever have questions for God?

    God gave me an answer to one of my questions, and I’d like to try to share it with you.

    On a night when I was feeling very weak and very sad about our world and the evil power in this world, I asked God:

    “How can evil be so strong, how can it have so much power, if you, God, are in control? Shouldn’t I fear it, God? Evil is everywhere and it hurts, kills, and destroys every day. Evil people hurt children.”

    That’s the one that gets me the most. The trafficking of children.

    Evil people prey on the voiceless. It’s like every voiceless thing is the target. Babies. Children. Animals. The elderly. The sick. The oppressed. The minority. The marginalized. Victims of all kinds. 

    And voiceless victims that we don’t even realize: The Numb. Drugged. Misinformed. Confused. Scared. People living their everyday lives feeling entertained but powerless.

    The voiceless are victims of evil schemes in the physical world. 

    “God, I know what the Bible says about evildoers. Yes, the Bible reassures me of their ultimate fate. But what about their current power? Heavenly Father, please help me.”

    “They are like spiders,” He said.

    Spiders?

    I began to think about spiders. 

    Spiders are sneaky, quiet, and busy with their own plans. They create webs to catch prey in the night, and they do catch prey, and they do feast, reproduce, and thrive. During the day they hide in dark corners, waiting.

    Some people are terrified of spiders. Others are not scared of them at all. Spiders have no power over humans except for the power that the human chooses to let it have.

    No amount of fear will stop a spider from crawling over your face or into your mouth while you are asleep in your bed. But the spider cannot actually hurt you much beyond the fear that it strikes into you.

    Their affect on human life is not very significant when you look at the actual power of a spider versus the power of a strong, fearless human.

    Some people become immobile when they see a spider.

    Others know how to kill them–or grab a jar, scoop them up, and put them outside where they belong.

    I sort of have an obsession with catching spiders and keeping them in jars in my kitchen. I like to put gnats and ants inside and watch what they do. Not too long ago, I found a huge black widow spider in our shed and I put her in a glass jar. After watching her for a few weeks, I thought she might be hungry so I caught a skinny black bug with a red stripe on its back, and I threw it in the jar. It crawled around the bottom of the jar and never got caught in the web. Then I caught a cockroach and tossed it in the jar. She pierced it and began wrapping it. I was enjoying the entertainment so much that I threw a second cockroach in to make her really happy. But I accidentally knocked her abdomen with the second cockroach and she scrambled and ran into the black bug, and maybe it stung her or she was just too banged up. Her abdomen crumpled and she died.

    One second she was thriving and attacking her prey. The next second, the victims killed her without even meaning to. I could not believe how weak she actually was. I felt bad that I killed her. I really did.

    What do you do when you see a spider in your house? Do you smash it? Do you capture it? Do you scream?  Andy cracks me up, because his way of killing a spider is standing halfway across the room and throwing a shoe at it. He hates bugs.

    Every person has a choice about how to react to spiders.

    It doesn’t change the fact that God created spiders. God has his hand over them. God understands them. God even has a purpose for them. 

    But for you and me, we have a choice. Will we hide? Or will we acknowledge the greatness of our own power over spiders?

    Who is in control, really? Who will live and who will die, really? 

    I want to encourage you to live your life with a sense of power and authority over the evil that might be pressing in all around you. I beg you to press into the power and strength of Jesus Christ, and all the beauty and forgiveness that he has. Let his power pour out of you so you have the wisdom and courage you need to be the conquerer in all situations where you may feel like a victim. 

    Now, if only we would not leave our babies, children, the elderly, the marginalized, alone without a voice.

    Will you join me? 

    Will you be a voice for the voiceless, and give them the benefit of the doubt?

    What does it mean to you? To give those who have no voice the benefit of the doubt?

    Love,

    Chelsea

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    #40before40 posts before I turn 40. This is post #3.