Lessons from a Paper Wasp

This week in my Beth Moore Bible study, A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place, we reached the point where the tabernacle was completed. The curtains were ready to be hung. The lampstand was ready to be lit. The altar of incense and the table of showbread were ready to be placed in their proper locations. The ark had been crafted, exactly to specifications, and the mercy seat was ready to be laid on top. The bronze altar and the bronze laver were ready to be used. And it was all done exactly according to God’s plan.

And Beth had us stop and reflect a bit on that.

Finished. Completed. Done. Accomplished. To a music teacher, Fine. And it was all to God’s glory.

With those thoughts resonating in my mind, I was drawn to something I noticed while inspecting the storm damage Thursday morning. On Wednesday afternoon, during the calm before the storm, Crisana and her friend had been playing inside our little playhouse. At dinner that night, she informed me that while they were in there, they had an unexpected and unwelcome guest: a wasp. I made a mental note to check that out the next day and take appropriate action, if necessary. That very night, the playhouse imploded and was laid waste across our lawn. I really didn’t give the wasp a second thought.

Yet much to my amazement, as I incredulously surveyed the damage and realized the extent of God’s protection on our home and lives, I saw it. The paper wasp’s nest. On a formerly-interior-now-exterior wall was the beginnings of a tiny little nest. And on further inspection – trying to determine if it was just mud from the ground, or mud from a creature – I recognized the distinctive shape and color of the paper wasp. Peering just a little closer – but not too close – I tried to determine if this poor creature was alive or dead as it clung to the wall it so desperately tried to make home. There was movement! Bedraggled and waterlogged as it was, that creature was still ALIVE! Mesmerized with a sort of morbid curiosity, I watched as the wasp crept slowly, bit by bit toward the nest and continued to work the mud to exactly the right shape and size it needed to be. Dadgum if it wasn’t trying to finish the freaking job! I nearly laughed out loud.

And I realized that that’s what God calls us to do. To finish the job, and finish it well. Just like Bezalel and the artisans of the children of Israel under Moses. Will there be storms in the process? Sure there will. And there may be days we wake up, weak and bedraggled, wondering what in tarnation we’re still doing here. But like that wasp, may we be faithful to finish the job God calls us to do. I have no doubt in my mind that God was pleased with that paper wasp’s faithfulness, and in some way, the creation was bringing glory to the Creator.

Kinda humbling, ain’t it?