Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
I used to like that song, but enough already! I can hear myself now to my grandkids decades from now, “I remember back in 2023, I sent grandma out to shovel the driveway and lost her in a snowdrift. Thankfully, she dug her way out just in time for dinner.”
In his wisdom, God has given us this snow for purposes that remain the mystery of him. If nothing else, they give us a visual lesson that many people in the world will never see. There are nearly 25 references to snow in our Bibles. All but three are in the Old Testament, and the majority of those occur in three of the books of Hebrew poetry (Job, Psalms, and Proverbs). Believers living somewhere in the tropics may never see snow in their lifetimes except on television, in a magazine, or online. They could only imagine what God means when he uses the imagery of snow. Not us in Minnesota, to us God gives a regular reminder, and we can thank him for that…seriously.
Consider a few of the occurrences:
God thunders marvelously with his voice; he does great things which we cannot comprehend. For he says to the snow, “Fall on the earth”; likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of his strength (Job 37:5-6).
The Bible teaches that the snow is the result of God’s management of his creation. Every time it snows, I am reminded again of God’s sovereignty over what is his.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).
In King David’s confession of sin and plea for God’s forgiveness, he asks that the filth of sin that marks his life would be washed away by God’s mercy and grace, leaving his heart clean like the snow. You know what that looks like as the fresh, white powder covers your front yard. That’s what your heart is like following Spirit prompted confession and God granted cleansing. The same thought comes again in Isaiah 1:18
I’m not going to do all the Bible study for you. That would take away the excitement when you make the discovery yourself, the kind of excitement your kids have or you had when you shouted, “It’s snowing!” I do hope that we can choose to see God’s hand in the rest of our winter, however it long it lasts.
And by the way, a little from my prayer time today: “Lord, there are a lot of things to learn from your Word that have to do with spring and the warmth of summer. I am willing to learn those things too.”
As always, thanks for reading, and I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musings.