Stronger than steel

The gossamer thin silk spun by spiders is, apparently, considerably stronger than the steel we see woven into cables which support suspension bridges over water or lifts in their shafts. Woven in the same thickness it would support the same weights, and more.

Centuries and centuries ago a frightened man found himself on the wrong end of his employer’s spear. He ran from his job, abandoned his house, fled to the desert, prayed to his God, and wrote a poem. (See 1 Samuel 19 and Psalm 63) The poem was kept, passed down from manuscript to manuscript, language to language and epoch to epoch. Today, his words will be read again – aeons in time and acres in culture from the place where they were born. And yet  the gossamer thread of soul-truth, stretched over such a distance as this, will wrap round the heart and tug it to God.

As preachers today take from the scriptures and take to their pulpits they rely on the strength of this thread which God has woven. So thin that it cannot be seen and yet so strong that it cannot be broken it makes preaching possible.

This Sunday, as every Sunday, I shall thank God for the strength of that thread. Mind you, as a spider-averse person I’m not so sure about the other kind…