“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to
deceive.” Most of us know that
quote, right? And we assert forcefully that it is Shakespeare – but we are
wrong. It is written by Sir Walter Scott, in his epic poem called “Marmion.”
Regardless of the author, we get the meaning, don’t we? Lies beget lies. The
further lies we tell to try and cover up the previous ones cause us to entangle
ourselves in deception.
What an analogy – the spider’s web, and telling lies. And
by extension, the poor, maligned spider. There is truth of course, and lessons
learned. I struggle with the temptation to tell a little white lie, because it
protects someone. Then I remember Frank Sinatra’s line in “Little White Lies,” “The devil was in
your heart, while heaven was in your eyes, the night you told me those little
white lies.” The best motivations do not negate the fact that lies are lies, a
tangled web of deceit.
Recently I heard another story about a spider web though – one that
turns my thoughts to God, and His five word promise repeated throughout the
Bible: “I will be with you.” There are many ways that God says the same thing:
“I
will never leave you nor forsake you” from Hebrews; earlier in Deuteronomy, “Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your
God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Perhaps the most
familiar words in the Bible from Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”
So what does this have to do with a spider’s web, you may ask. Here is the story. A soldier was being
chased by the enemy, until finally, exhausted, he took refuge in a cave. He
prayed to God to deliver him, but he saw was a small spider, beginning to weave
a web across the entrance to the cave. The soldier scoffed at a God who would
offer the protection of a flimsy web – until he heard the voice of his enemy
passing by, speaking to a comrade – “No need to examine this cave. No one has entered,
for look, here is a spider’s web completely across the entrance.” And they went
on.
I began to think about spiders and their webs because I passed one, decked
out in early morning dew. I then began to consider godly applications, for we
find God everywhere. My mulling took me to sin, and lack of trust, and the end
of where every mulling takes me, given enough time – to God’s faithfulness. And
his promise, the one he first made to Moses, and to each of us – “I will be with you.”
