Trapped

My friend noticed something odd in the corner of a high window. It looked like a mushroom, but surely it couldn’t be. “Look at that” she said to her husband, “what do you think it is?” “Oh yes, I noticed that a few days ago” he said. “Well, it can’t stay there” she thought, so she climbed up to remove it.

As she took a closer look she could see that the white ball was actually a spider’s web of some sort. Inside were about 20 dead-looking ladybirds. Carefully she broke the web and suddenly to her amazement all the ladybirds rushed out into freedom, scattering themselves about, very much alive!

They were all alive and well, despite their previous appearance, and she was thrilled to have rescued them from their prison and given them another chance of life. She likes ladybirds because they are good to have in the garden - they eat aphids and they look pretty.

How many of us are trapped in a prison, in at least some area of our life? We feel as if that part of us is never going to be any different and has no hope. Hopelessness can make us give up and be like those ladybirds who looked as if they were dead. Not moving, not thinking, waiting but waiting for nothing good.

They could not help themselves or get themselves out of the trap they were in. Yet help came to them from outside. As soon as the web was broken, they were free! Free to live and be who they were meant to be, to fulfil their destiny as God-given blessings.

If you feel trapped today, whether trapped in one area of life which seems like it can never be any different, or worse still, trapped totally in gloom and hopelessness, then look outside to Jesus. He has seen you. He can help you. He loved you enough to come and find you and He can set you free. It’s true that you can’t do it but He can! Jesus can break the web.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can’t set myself free. I’ve tried. Please come and break this web around me that my enemy has made. Please come and find me. You are God so You can do anything. You love me, so You will find me. I will wait until You find me. Thank You. Amen.