Creation

As I looked out of the window one snowy, frosty morning, the sun caught a beautiful cobweb outside, made even more beautiful by being coated with frost. The spider had anchored it at three points, one at the top of the window frame, one on one of the sides and the other – a really long line – to the windowsill. That’s the most economical way of making it secure. And the net that the spider had created was not just ideal for catching small insects, it was a thing of beauty.

How amazing that a little creature smaller than my thumbnail should create such a thing. How amazing that the little spider has its place in a complex but beautiful eco-system that the natural world presenter, David Attenborough, calls ‘a perfect planet’. Like the stars and galaxies at night, something as tiny as the spider and its web declares the glory of the Creator.

How can anyone say that all this perfection came about by chance? If I leave my study window open on a windy day and come back to find all my papers scattered over the floor, I’ll say, ‘Bother, the wind has blown my things off my desk!’ But I’ve got other things do, so I go away, leaving the mess behind. Later, I come back and see them all tidied up on my desk: ‘Who’s been in my study? Who’s done that?’ Chance brings disorder; where there’s order, there’s a mind; there’s a person. And the little spider’s web reminded me of the Creator.

God doesn’t just create – He cares for His creation. Jesus told us that no sparrow dies without His knowledge. Nothing is too small or insignificant. We have a God who knows about the spider by my window-frame just as much as He knows about the Pleiades or the solar system. And He, who created you and me, knows all our past history and all that the future will hold. He cares about every step that we’ll take. And, because He cares, He’ll show us the way, if we let Him. Not one of us is too insignificant for Him. No-one is too small for the Creator of the universe.

Prayer: Father, I praise You that You, the Creator of the universe, never for one moment lose sight of me. Thank You that You know all about me, and all that I will face today. Thank You that as I put myself into Your hands, I’m in the safest place in the whole universe. Amen.