I was talking with a hospice team member about something he saw in his garden one evening as a bee got entangled in a spider’s web. The spider was much smaller and yet he was undaunted in his attempt to subdue the eventual dinner. The spider began encapsulating the bee with the silken protein strands which have a tensile strength of high grade steel and yet a strand long enough to circle the earth would weigh about eighteen ounces. (Wikipedia--Spider's Silk) The bee was desperately fluttering its wings but the crafty spider began to cover the wings and the helpless bee was history. Spiders cover the prey with a digestive juice which liquefies and consumes the insect from the inside out.
But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NIV)
While the example may seem harsh, it is a good example of the helpless condition of man with sin. If we tried to face down the Enemy by ourselves, we would be like the helpless insect. Growing up without a Savior I found my life darting like the errant flight plan of the bee. The bee may know the directions he is to take but a gust of wind can impede his progress in the plan. I knew right from wrong but was powerless to resist the wrong or do the right. Anger, hatred, and malice where just some of the webs that found me and no matter how hard I tried, I became enticed by evil desire flourishing into full-blown sin. As I struggled I became more and more entangled by the very sin I hated. The Enemy slowly wrapped me up in his web because like Paul said in Romans 7:15-17 (NIV), it was the sin which lived in us.
Paul calls us more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are not merely a strong army, but an empowered force by him who loved so we can resist the Enemy to an overwhelmingly powerful victory. Jesus said the “gates of hell” will not be able to resist. Gates are for defense and not for offense because they cannot move from their foundations. We are the super-conquerors and we need to take it to the Enemy. We are no longer in the trap—he is the trapped foe of Jesus, struggling now in the last gasping hours before his eventual defeat.
But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NIV)
While the example may seem harsh, it is a good example of the helpless condition of man with sin. If we tried to face down the Enemy by ourselves, we would be like the helpless insect. Growing up without a Savior I found my life darting like the errant flight plan of the bee. The bee may know the directions he is to take but a gust of wind can impede his progress in the plan. I knew right from wrong but was powerless to resist the wrong or do the right. Anger, hatred, and malice where just some of the webs that found me and no matter how hard I tried, I became enticed by evil desire flourishing into full-blown sin. As I struggled I became more and more entangled by the very sin I hated. The Enemy slowly wrapped me up in his web because like Paul said in Romans 7:15-17 (NIV), it was the sin which lived in us.
Paul calls us more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are not merely a strong army, but an empowered force by him who loved so we can resist the Enemy to an overwhelmingly powerful victory. Jesus said the “gates of hell” will not be able to resist. Gates are for defense and not for offense because they cannot move from their foundations. We are the super-conquerors and we need to take it to the Enemy. We are no longer in the trap—he is the trapped foe of Jesus, struggling now in the last gasping hours before his eventual defeat.
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