Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, October 4, 2026
My husband saw it first, a big black spider climbing upward. But it’s what we didn’t see that delighted me. Looking from one angle and then another, we couldn’t see a spiderweb or any trace of silken threads the spider was using to scramble up in the air. He was seemingly unattached to anything.
I remembered another spider I spied, long ago, who accomplished the same magic trick of moving steadily up without any help we could see, and my words then came back to me now as I admired this new spider: “He’s climbing without any visible means of support!”
And so are we.
Not by magic, but by miracle do we live. I love the reassurance in Lamentations 3:22-23 that the Lord’s mercies and compassions are new every morning, a fresh supply of support for us.
We can press on, like Moses, if we see as he saw:
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. (Hebrew 11:27 NIV)
Although there is much that can weigh us down, and cause us to be fainthearted, Paul shows us how to fix our focus:
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
And yet God gave us Jesus, to walk and talk and heal and preach and live among us – Son of Man as well as Son of God – so we could see Him who is invisible:
For he [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God . . . (Colossians 1:13-15a)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14;6-9 NIV)
We don’t have to wonder what God is like; we don’t have to fear Him. Watch Jesus as He moves through this world, and know that you are seeing God the Father’s heart in action, loving the world through Jesus.
One of these days, the Day will finally come, when we will see Him face to Face. Until then, “we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) We rejoice in the solid truth of the invisible.