God and the Spider
June 20th, 2008 by Ann Vertel
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.
Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.
As he waited, he prayed, “Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.”
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn’t going to help me out of this one.” Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.
As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.
“Hah, he thought. “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while.
“Lord, forgive me,” prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall.”
We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget what God can work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. And remember with God, a mere spider’s web becomes a brick wall of protection.
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This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:03 am
How true; what an inspiring story, but I do think that God does have a sense of humor…
June 27th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Wonderful story! I, too, know that God has a sense of humor. In my younger days, I needed a hunk of money so I prayed for it. That afternoon I found a dollar bill on the ground. I had wanted a bit more, but I looked up, with a smile (who wouldn’t!!!) and said ‘Thank you, Lord.”
June 28th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I loved this story. It was very inspirational to me and I share it with my husband who also thought is was great. God is always there to those who place God as a priority. He knows what we need and when we need it.
June 29th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I agree with all of you! I have also learned that alot of times God’s answers to our prayers don’t look like what we thought they would. Our tendancy is to think God didn’t answer our prayer, or better yet, didn’t answer it ‘the way it was supposed to be’. The key is to remain open and receptive. He always amazes, He’s never late, and He definitely has a sense of humor!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I read this on a day when alot of dissappointments came one after the other. This was a BOLD reminder that God is in control and will never allow anything to be taken from us without replacing it with what is needed for a larger blessing and a purpose.