When Is A Net Not A Net? When It's A Trap.

This corner of our small garage has the biggest, most beautiful spider web. It is pure white, and it glistens in the sunshine that pours through that window. I honestly don't know how long it took that spider to make it, and I honestly don't want to meet him to ask. I'm cool with not knowing this one thing.

Looking closely at how pretty it is, it can take a moment to remember that the web is actually a deadly tool. It may look like a fun carnival slide or a net to keep trapeze artists safe, but it's sticky and constricting and built with death in mind. Isn't nature amazing?

But net was the first word I thought of when I saw the web, and net always makes me think of the verses about the wicked seeking to catch the righteous in a net. The psalms are full of these warning verses.

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. Psalm 9:15

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. Psalm 10:9

Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:15

Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Psalm 31:4

For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Psalm 35:7

Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. Psalm 35:8

They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. Psalm 57:6

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah. Psalm 140:5

The psalmist's warning is to watch out for those nets and avoid them at all costs. The only way to do that is to be aware of our surroundings, physically and spiritually, and not let anything evil or destructive draw us in.  

Solomon even had advice in two of his proverbs about avoiding those nets.

The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. Proverbs 12:12

A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet. Proverbs 29:5

Who wouldn't rather have the fresh fruit that comes from living right before God than the desire to have something terrible that only wicked men want? It seems like common sense, but we still fall for flattery that comes from an impure heart, so there is still a need for this wisdom thousands of years later.

Many of the prophets speak of nets as hunter's weapons, comparing them to people with less than good intentions and motivations. Take Micah for example.

The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. Micah 7:2

Of course the best known verses about nets have to do with fishing, and Jesus used them in many of his stories ... just in more interesting ways that the Old Testament writers.

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. Matthew 4:18

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Matthew 13:47

Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. Mark 1:16

And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. Luke 5:5-6

And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes...And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes...Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. John 21:6, 8, 11

The nets were the tools of their trade, what they probably knew better than anything else in the world, and Jesus used them. He used them to communicate new concepts, to compare what they were familiar with to something strange. And He used them to perform miracles and capture their hearts. What powerful nets those turned out to be.

But perhaps my favorite use of the word net in Scripture is found in Exodus 27 in the description of the net for the bronze altar.

And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. Exodus 27:4-5

This grate, or net, was let into the hollow in the middle of the altar where the fire was kept for sacrificing. Think of it like a sieve, allowing the fire to burn better, hotter, and faster as the air moved through it. And the ashes would fall away, into that hollow and out of the way of the flames. How perfect was God's plan for the tabernacle, that it even included a way to increase the effectiveness of the fire on the altar?

And all of this because God created a spider, who created a web, which created a beautiful work of art in my garage. God is good, all the time...and all the time, God is good.