Ugly Spiders

It looked like this :(

I was sweeping my porch quickly before dinner and I moved some dirty unused shoes. An enormous (for New Zealand) fat, ugly black spider ran out. One of the biggest ugliest ones I've ever seen let alone right outside my door! It tried to hide behind the other shoes and gumboots, but I had to be brave and kill it! Thankfully I had a weapon in hand—my broom. When I tried to kill it, it raised its front legs trying to protect itself.

I'd rather forget all about this spider, as it's made me rather jumpy! But if there's something we can learn from it, then it will be worth it. :)

Ugly spiders remind me of sin.

First of all...they're ugly.

There's nothing attractive about a spider, especially the one I saw. They're just plain ugly. Have you ever thought about how ugly sin is? Some neighbours we used to have owned a dog. One time it was being noisy and I heard the neighbour yell a swear word at it. My first thought was, “Yuck!” Swearing just doesn't make a person very attractive. What about a bad temper? I heard another neighbour losing their temper at their child and guess what? It sounded rather ugly! Resentment, self pity and discontent are a few 'spiders' that rear their ugly head in my life every now and again. Usually when I'm least expecting it. They don't make me attractive!

Secondly, ….they like to hide.

This kind of spider, at least, you don't see very often. Thankfully!! Only when you're moving things around and they happen to be underneath. We generally like to hide our sin, aswell.

 Is their any ugly sin in your life that you are trying to hide? God knows all about it and everyone will find out soon enough. So why not confess and forsake it? He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Or maybe there are sins that you don't even know about. You should pray like David, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:23-24

Thirdly,....I had to deal with it.

If I hadn't killed it, it would have hidden again and still been there to give me another fright! And maybe it would have had babies and multiplied.

And so you must face your sin and deal with it. If you don't confess that your sin is sin and that it's wrong, you won't overcome it. You must admit that it's wrong and ask for God's forgiveness and help.

Fourthly,...I needed a weapon.

It was too big of a spider for me to want to step on. So I used my broom. I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't had my broom right there in my hand.

To deal with sin, you need the weapon of God's Word. When the devil came to tempt Jesus, Jesus dealt with him saying, “It is written...It is written...It is written.” And the devil left him.

Do you know what the Bible says? Do you read it regularly? Do you have it on your mind ready to use? It's good to find verses that speak about the sins that you struggle with. Memorize them and repeat them when you need to. For example, I struggle with resentment sometimes and thinking negative thoughts about people. One verse that I remind myself of often is “Love thinketh no evil.”

Prayer is another powerful weapon.

Fifthly,...the spider didn't die without a fight.

I've never seen a spider try and protect itself before. I didn't know they did that. It was a bit creepy!

Sin isn't so easy to deal with either. When the devil tempted Jesus, he didn't leave after the first time Jesus said “It is written.” It happened three times before he finally left. So don't give up. Confess your sins to God and keep trusting Him to help you.