Small but Mighty – Lessons from the Spider
The spider*
Proverbs lists the spider as small, but mighty.
“There are four things,” Proverbs says, “that are little upon the earth, but are exceeding wise.” The fourth one he lists is the spider. “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.”
Spiders are small, which makes them easy prey for many types of predators. Spiders are agile and can move across a room quickly. Their unassuming nature helps them be less noticed in everyday events. This provides safety and protection.
Spiders in the palace
My husband does not like the sign of spiders in our house. I tell him, “I just dusted that corner of the ceiling yesterday!” when he points out a spider web in the house. He understands how this happens. Spiders are unobtrusive and not easily noticed (unless you walk into an unknown web).
Yet, spiders can invade palaces. They hide in corners, under furniture, and on the ceiling. From those places, they spin their webs. Subtly, quietly, and unobtrusively, they fill their space while one hardly notices. That is how they can invade a palace.
The spider’s web
None of us enjoys webs in our homes. We certainly do not appreciate walking into a web and the hassle that ensues in becoming disentangled. One would think a small and slim web would be easily to destroy and disentangle. Not so. Spiders’ webs are made to last. A spider can build a web almost anywhere. You’ll find them hanging from rung to rung on a chair, in the corner of a ceiling, across branches of a tree, or under a picnic table. It doesn’t matter where, they can build a web there.
Spider webs are made of silk, and the strands are five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. Any of us who have walked into a spider web understand the strength of the silk of the web when we try to remove it from our face!
Spiders do not intercept prey. They attract them with their web. A spider thinks carefully before it designs its web. There’s a method to the spinning and designing. The spider’s goal is to catch insects and not just flies. That is why he takes care in designing the web.
Lessons from the small but mighty
What makes a spider wise? It is small, but mighty. The spider shows wisdom in how and where it spins its web. By designing the web to attract its favorite prey, it shows thought and planning.
In being inobtrusive, the spider protects itself and can invade elegant palaces. It defends, hunts, and builds. In doing so, it continues to maintain order and power.
The spider also chooses where to build its web based on the availability of prey. Sometimes they scope out a possible nesting site to see if there is enough food and a place to lay their eggs in that area. Spiders decide where to live based largely on the availability of prey and potential for reproduction. They will usually construct a web to scope out a potential nesting location to determine whether there will be enough food and a place for them to lay their eggs.
The spider shows foresight, planning, strategy, and using its natural abilities to build its web. In doing so, the spider can take over a house or a palace.
Photo credits: pixabay.com
*Some translations use the word “lizard” instead of spider. Both of them are unobtrusive. I chose to go with “spider” because it’s what I was familiar with in many Bible translations. And, in my opinion, it makes more sense to be unnoticed in a palace.
