"Are you afraid of spiders?" If you had asked me this question previously, I probably would have answered, maybe a bit too pridefully, "I'm not! I'm a country girl. I can handle spiders." However, lately this seems to be changing...
This morning, before I share about my Bible reading in Jeremiah, I want to share a personal testimony. You see, this fall I've been having a spider problem in my apartment. At odd and random times, I will walk into a room and discover a gigantic spider sitting in the middle of the floor. Where he came from, I know not... but with shaking hands, I grab as much tissue as I can find, or a big book, and go after him. Usually, spiders do not phase me... however... these ones I've been encountering lately are of a different kind. And they will make the bravest soul shake in their boots! (Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how I feel... because I always thought I was brave.)
Anyway, so this past Friday evening, as Sabbath was opening, I was calmly reading in my living room when this large spider went running across my floor. I immediately got up to chase it with the nearest book in hand, which turned into my weapon. Unfortunately this spider got away, and is still running around free somewhere in my little apartment. (And I'm still shaking as a result!)
However, the story is not over. Immediately after this unfruitful chase, I opened my front door to spray RAID around the entrance and cracks in my door (I have an older two-door entrance that doesn’t seal properly at the bottom), so I was hoping by spraying RAID that I would detour any further outside visitors that might try to sneak in through the cracks. Well, when I opened my front door, what did I discover sitting under my door at that very moment, but another HUGE spider just waiting for a opportunity to sneak inside! He was so big that I grabbed my phone and took a quick video... followed up by another video of my “scared goosebumps” reaction after the battle with this spider had ended. I then posted these videos on Instagram for all my 678 followers to see. Looking back a day later, my reaction and fright all seems rather foolish and I was asking myself last night, “Why did you share those videos on social media?” I’m sure everyone’s laughing and thinking, “Melody! You’re a country girl... get a grip! It was only a spider!” Perhaps my reactions were a bit over dramatized and perhaps it was foolish to share. However, these spiders episodes that I've been having lately have really got me thinking...
You see, since the invasion of the spiders this fall, I've become pretty hyper sensitive and vigilant. In fact, if I have to get up in the middle of the night, I turn on the lights so I don't accidentally step on a spider. And when I do discover one, I go after it like a wild woman. I can hardly rest until he's been obliterated. But after this past Friday night, I've been thinking to myself: These spiders are too big for me. I need help fighting these spiders.
So, here's the Spiritual Application!
What if we attacked sin and the spiritual compromises that sneak into our life with the same ferocity that I've been going after these spiders. What if instead of sitting passively by, and watching the devil eat away at our lives, we began to open God's Word with fresh determination, and asking Him to shed light upon our path that we will not stumble into sin and be overcome by temptation. What if instead of accepting the "giant spiders" of spiritual failure, the "evil spiders" of compromise and sin, or the "ugly spiders" of spiritual apathy, we began trembling in our boots and crying out, "Lord, this battle is too much for me! These spiders are too big for me! I thought I was brave. I thought I was strong. But I'm not! Please help me! Forgive me for my apathy. Forgive me for the the cracks and footholds I've given to the enemy... Help me fill in the breaches in my walls. Help me to be fortified and strong in You and Your Word once again."
What if this was our cry... What if we reacted to sin the same way I've been reacting to these crazy little spiders???
Reading these chapters in Jeremiah has been so sobering, but also very eye-opening the last several days. In fact, I feel like I've been reading a book about the church of today... not just of Jeremiah's time. We as a church have compromised in so many ways spiritually that our walls of protection have fallen, and the world has started marching in on all sides. There are spiders, spiders, everywhere. Yet, for the most part, it seems like God's people are just sitting by passively watching the parade... in fact, some of them are even laughing at those of us seeking to put up a fight. "Why are you being so sensitive?" they ask. "Those things are not a big deal... Those compromises that you call sin are just a little spiders. They are harmless! They are nothing to get all worked up about!" And they laugh some more. But these little spiders (sins) are coming in by the trainloads... and God's church is in distress as a result. Our walls are falling!
Yet, God continues to plead with His people. He's still offering us another chance, if we will humble ourselves and repent. All is not yet lost. There's still hope!
Yet, God continues to plead with His people. He's still offering us another chance, if we will humble ourselves and repent. All is not yet lost. There's still hope!
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." (Jer. 7:3-7)
God's promise to the people of Israel is for us, but it requires action. Let us awaken out of our spiritual lethargy and recognize the seriousness of the times. This is not the time to sit still. We are in a spiritual war, not against each other, not against the leaders of our church, or against any human being, not against physical spiders (like I've been freaking out about lately) but against something much bigger. We are in war against principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places. We are in war against the very enemy of our souls. But where are God's soldiers? It seem's no one is trembling these days, because our enemy has snuck in through a thousand cracks in our life. He's snuck in camouflaged as little spiders...
It's time we get into God's Word, to allow Him to shine the spotlight of truth upon our hearts (Ps. 139:23,24). It's time we learn to pray... and I mean REALLY PRAY! It's time we put on our spiritual armor...and keep it on (Eph. 6).
This morning as I was reading in Jeremiah 7 and 8, I was marveling at the patience and mercy of God and how long He waited for His people. You would think that Israel would have listened to his appeal. But the Bible tells us sadly: "But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.... This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." (Jer. 7:24,28)
What a sad fate came to Israel because they would not hear the truth of God's Word. May the same fate not fall upon us...
I say, it's time to wage war on the spiders. Your spiders might look different than mine. Perhaps your spiders have to do with a secret private addiction, an attitude you carry with you, a lust or an appetite for something that is harmful that you have not yet overcome. Perhaps your spider is called "doubt" as you look at God and His Word. Or perhaps your spider has to do with some worldly love or idol, or a relationship that is leading you away from God. Perhaps your spider is a subtle growing "bitterness" against the church. Whatever it is, let's pray that God would help us to be spiritually fortified once again! Like I said... It's time to stop laughing and it's time, through God's power, to wage war on these spiders!
Tomorrow's Reading: Jer. 9-10 and John 4
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