Spiders don't need encouragement to keep going, humans do.
For centuries people have been fascinated by the persistence of spiders building webs. The process begins by climbing, jumping or flying to establish a link between two objects above ground to enable them to build a web that will catch a unwary flying insect. They rarely succeed in their efforts to bridge the gap the first time or even the second. Often it can be ten, twenty or even fifty attempts before they eventually connect their first strand of gossamer across the divide.
Spiders don’t need encouragement because, as far as I know they can’t count, and they don’t have the same complex emotions as we humans. They are programmed by instinct and driven by the need for survival so they have to build the web or they die. They neither fume when they fail, nor rejoice when they succeed, they just keep at it.
The Bible is replete with passages that talk about encouragement because its author recognises that we humans can count, are sensitive and prone to giving up in the face of failure. Failure touches us deeply and shapes a great deal of what we do. Everybody gets discouraged sometime. The world is a discouraging place, nothing works they way you would want it to and often, it’s what you put the most effort into that causes the most discouragement.
People are discouraging also. In fact it goes without saying, the most discouraging things in the universe are people. They let you down, turn on you, abuse you, use you and desert you. They are driven by resentment, self-righteousness, one-upmanship, jealousy and insecurity - you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. It’s no wonder then that in our fallen nature, we are prone to be incredibly negative in our assessment of one another.
The Bible says we are to encourage each another because encouragement is good for both its giver and receiver. Encouragement is often the beginning of genuine love. Having to think about encouraging things to say helps us to see the good in one another—we sometimes think it clever to find fault, but in a world of sinners that’s no more difficult than finding the sky on a sunny day.
How did you feel the last time you were discouraged? Were you tempted to chuck in the towel, demonise other members of the church, become resentful of the efforts of others or isolate yourself from everyone? Have you ever thought how damaging it is to the work of the Gospel to have churches full of discouraged, despondent, resentful people?
The only good thing about being discouraged is that you get a taste of what it feels like. This ought to make you wary of doing it others. It should also give you very good reasons for wanting lift others up. Sometimes the best way to pull yourself out of the despondency of discouragement is to lift the spirits of someone else because the most encouraging thing a Christian can experience, is the joy of knowing they have been a positive force in the life of another person.
Our enemy is both an accuser and a discourager—there is nothing he likes more than to see us criticising and competing with one another. This way he gets to puff up some whilst totally demoralising others—not much good Gospel work occurs while ever we are at each others throats.
We may wish at times that we had the cold determined, mechanical approach of the spider who never gives up, but we were created in the very image of God and with that came feelings and emotions. Beings with such complexity can do great things and enjoy great satisfaction from the things they do when they are encouraged by their friends.
