Why did God create the spider?

To catch the fly? That wiggled and jiggled…

My 7 year old does not like spiders and so with all seriousness he asked me why would God have made them. Surely it must be some mistake? I think my reply might have been along the lines of its purpose perhaps in dealing with the other creepy crawlies that are around… When that didn’t suffice, I opted for the very mature response – “Ask your father.”

My boys are at the age when a lot of their conversations begin with “why…” and to be honest I don’t have all the answers (even if my boys do believe I know everything!) It serves to often remind me of how faith exists within a reality of not knowing or understanding everything. In fact, how much faith is not knowing. It is important to reach a point when the tension between not being able to comprehend fully does not mean the rejection of our faith. When someone doesn’t get healed, I cannot reduce my comprehension of God to that He no longer heals. I cannot deconstruct God and reduce Him to the limitations of my understanding and revelation.

Bill Johnson wrote this “The walk of faith is to live according to the revelation we have received, in the midst of the mysteries we can’t explain. That’s why Christianity is called “the faith.” “ Living with mystery is part of the challenge and wonder of faith. Not understanding is ok. Having unanswered questions is ok.

“Faith does not come from our understanding. It comes from the heart. We do not believe because we understand; we understand because we believe.” (Bill Johnson)

So why did God create the ant?