God's Teachings about Snow

This winter, we in Texas have been blessed by quite a bit of snow. Snow is very common is Alaska, Canada, the northern states in the USA. The same is true about countries in the southern part of the hemisphere on planet earth as for example in New Zealand, where we have gone several times. The Bible presents several messages about the spiritual dimension of snow. Here are only a few examples.

I. God's First Speech to Job.
    When Job complained that God was treating him unjustly (as in Job 9:15-22), God finally broke the silence and asked Job a series of penetrating questions in Job 38-39. The questions he raised to Job essentially had to do with whether any human being can really understand or comprehend God. He begins by asking Job:
         "Where were you [Job] when I [God] laid the foundation of the earth?
                Tell me, if you have understanding.
           Who determined its measurements--surely you know!
                Or who stretched the line upon it?
            On what were its based sunk,
                 or who laid its cornerstone
            when the morning stars sang together
                  and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?"
Obviously, Job cannot reply at all. Job had nothing to do with laying the foundation of the earth. Only God can do such a thing. So,  how can any human being comprehend the great creator of the universe?
   A little later, God asks a similar question about snow in Job 38:22-24:
        "Have you [Job] entered the storehouses of the SNOW
              or have you see the storehouses of the hail,
          which I [God] have reserved for the time of trouble,
               for the day of battle and war?
          What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
               or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?"
God stores up snow until he wishes to dump it on the earth to carry out his purposes. Can any human being make that happen? Absolutely NO!!! When God sends snow on earth, human beings are immediately confined. Armies cannot function. Workers cannot carry out their normal daily activities. Everything stops because God is in control, and God is much more powerful than any human being or group of human beings.

II. Snow is a Gift of God to enrich the Soil so Plants will Flourish.
     The composer of Psalm 147 declares in verses 15-18:
             "He [God] sends out his command to the earth;
                    his word runs swiftly.
               He GIVES SNOW like wool;
                    he scatters frost like ashes.
               He hurls down hail like crumbs--
                    who can stand before his cold?
               He sends out his word, and melts them;
                    he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow."
God's works are miraculous and powerful. No human being can resist or change or bring into being all of God's mighty acts like snow, frost, hail, and wind.
     Along these same lines, the composer of Psalm 148 proclaims in verses 7-8:
              "Praise the Lord from the earth,
                   you sea monsters and all deeps,
                fire and hail, SNOW and frost,
                   stormy wind fulfilled his command!"
All we human beings can do is watch and marvel and be thankful for this gift of snow.

III. Snow is a Metaphor or Simile of Purity and Cleansing.
      a. The composer of Psalm 51 utters this prayer in verses 7 and 10:
              "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be CLEAN;
                    wash me, and I shall be WHITER THAN SNOW. . . .
                Create in me a CLEAN HEART, O God,
                    and put a NEW and RIGHT SPIRIT within me."
The sinful heart is impure and dirty. But God alone can cleanse the heart and make one whiter than snow.
       b. The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 1:18-20:
               "Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord:
                 though your SINS are like SCARLET,
                       they shall be like SNOW;
                 though they are RED like CRIMSON,
                       and shall become like WOOL.
                 If you are willing and obedient,
                       you shall eat the good of the land;
                 but if your refuse and rebel,
                       you shall be devoured by the sword;
                       for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
All of us human beings are full of sin and fall short of the glory of God. But our God is loving and forgiving, and if we will yield our wills to him, he can wash us whiter than snow.

IV. God's Word transforms our Hearts and Our Lives like Snow coming down from heaven.
       Isaiah 55:10-11 declares:
             "For as the rain and the SNOW come down from heaven,
                   and do no return there until they have watered the earth,
               making it bring forth and sprout,
                   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
               so shall MY WORD be that goes out from my mouth;
                   it shall not return to me empty,
               but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
                   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
God is so powerful that when he sends forth his word, nothing can resist or overcome it. We have his promises, and rejoice in his mighty deeds.

V. Faithful Messengers bless the Hearers like Snow falling on the Earth.
     Proverbs 25:13 says:
           "Like the COLD OF SNOW in the time of harvest
                are FAITHFUL MESSENGERS to those who send them;
                the REFRESH the spirit of their masters."
When Christian servants send messengers of hope by e-mail, by an encouraging word, by a phone call, in any other way, our hearts are uplifted and we can lift up our heads and move forward with hope and encouragement.

VI. The Bible describes the head of the risen Jesus as white as snow.
       Revelation 1:12-16 gives this description of the risen Lord Jesus:
           "Then I [John] turned to see whose voice was that spoke to me,
             and on turning a saw seven golden lampstands,
             and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man,
             clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.
             His head and his hair were white as white wool, WHITE AS SNOW,
             his eyes were like a flame of fire,
             his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace,
             and his voice was like the sound of many waters.
             In his right hand he held seven stars,
             and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword,
             and his face was like the sun shining with full force."
What a dazzling, striking picture of the risen Lord ruling daily over our lives.

Share YOUR contributions and expressions and shortcomings and reversals and concepts with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis