The Silent Prophet

I'll admit that I've never had any special interest in barn spiders. All I knew about them was that they build those large, circular webs I frequently run into. So when a barn spider built its web between the awning of our back porch and the hydrangea below, I didn't think much of it. What a cheap, flimsy-looking, uninteresting web, I thought. Birds were always flying through it, making holes in it, and the spider would have to repair it, sacrificing what little design the web already had. Then, after seeing the spider sitting in the center of its web at night, waiting for prey, and realizing that its body looked different than I'd imagined, I decided it might be worth photographing after all. So one night I set my tripod up, hung my lantern on the fence, and proceeded to struggle with the poor light to get a decent shot of the spider's body. Unfortunately the web was gone by then, and the spider was hanging just under the awning. I took several shots. Most of them didn't turn out, but when I did get the shutter speed and flash to cooperate, this is what I saw:

Do you see the cross-shaped pattern on the spider's abdomen? That's where this species gets its name: Neoscona crucifera, also called Hentz's orbweaver. I wonder Who put that cross on there!

At this point the spider unexpectedly, and I'll say, fortuitously turned around, affording us a better view of its body. 

You can see here that the cross is best seen from this angle: intriguingly, it's not square, but rectangular, just like the Cross of our salvation.

I was able to get the lighting to work well in this photo, but for some reason I wasn't able to replicate the exact conditions.

So you see, God can use even a spider as a silent prophet, predicting the coming of His Son. Consider this: long before Christ came, people would have seen this spider with a cross on its back and they wouldn't have had any inkling that that little symbol foretold their eternal salvation. Sadly, they might have remained ignorant of what Christ did, or if they knew, simply unbelieving, but God declares Himself throughout all nature, so no one has any excuse, saying "I didn't know" or "No one told me." Paul says:

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." Romans 1:19-23

Nature itself points to God, and those who seek Him will always find Him. He turns no one away. And yet He is still sovereign, and our decision whether or not to seek Him is not unknown to Him, nor is it separate from His will:

"Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:18-23

Thus God is still the one enabling a person to seek Him. We're practically corpses because of sin, remember? We can't reach out to Him unless He empowers us; He has to stir in us the very desire to seek, which would otherwise be absent. But when that occurs, even a person considered to be the most primitive, ignorant, pagan being will turn towards Him. Please reflect on these things and remember that, if people who lived before Christ's coming couldn't pretend to be ignorant, how much less can we, who live in a world where the Gospel is being spread openly, use that same excuse! This spider has the symbol of Christ's sacrifice on its abdomen, and that alone is a testament against obstinate unbelievers. 

If you would like to read more about Neoscona crucifera, consult these sites:

http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/cavatic.html (discusses distribution, appearance, & behavior)

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/spiders/neoscona.htm

http://spiderjoe.com/journal/the-intelligent-neoscona-crucifera

http://www.carolinanature.com/spiders/neosconacrucifera.html (great photos from NC)

http://www.primordial-light.com/arthropoda-5.html (stunningly magnified photos; site has strong evolutionist bent)