“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
During World War II, amidst the intense smoke of crossfire, a Marine became separated from his unit. Alone in the jungle, he heard enemy soldiers coming. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly, he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he knew it wouldn’t be long before the enemy would search the caves and find him.
He prayed, “Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.”
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw closer. Just when he assumed the Lord wasn’t going to help him, he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.
He watched the spider work on its web at the opening of his cave, strand by strand, as he heard the enemy searching for him. He had to laugh. “I needed a brick wall, but the Lord sent me a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”
As the enemy drew closer, he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he braced for the attack. But to his amazement, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. That’s when he realized that the spider web over the entrance made his cave look as if no one had entered for quite a while. “Lord, forgive me,” he prayed this time. “I had forgotten that in you, a spider’s web is stronger than a brick wall.”
Sometimes we limit God with our own limited understanding. When we are struggling and afraid, it is natural to pray for a “brick wall” of protection. And brick walls are easier for us to recognize. But what about those less obvious answers God sends? Are we looking for them? Are we seeing them?
Perhaps God is already answering our prayers–not in the way we expect–but within his web of wonderful possibilities.
Watering the Seeds
Describe a time when you might have limited God with your prayers.
What can you do in your prayer life today to better recognize God’s answers?
