If I were to have told you at the start of December, that we would have more snow in April, would you have believed me? If I were to have told you the week before Christmas that we would have more snow on Easter than on the Eve of our Lord’s birth, would you have doubted me? In all honesty, I would not have believed these things if someone told me. In April, we had the snowiest April on record in the State of Minnesota. Hopefully, it will be a record that will never be broken, equaled, or approached again.
In Scripture, the word “snow” is used 24 times. These verses from Job seem appropriate given our historic month. Job 37:5-6 says, “God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.” In Job 38:22-23 God says, “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?” It certainly seems like He told the snow “Fall on the earth” and that He cleared out His storehouses!
However, this is not all that Scripture says about snow. Isaiah 55:10-11: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water 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 shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Snow is a wonderful image and reminder of this truth: God’s Word does not return empty. It accomplishes what God wants. It does what He sends it to do. It bears fruit in our lives. It strengthens our faith. It equips and works in us by His Spirit. His Word proclaims the forgiveness of our sins. Snow is a wonderful reminder of this truth!
Listen also to how snow is used in Psalm 51:7. This psalm was written after David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband Uriah killed. In verse 7, David writes, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” David asks that God would forgive him. He uses the image of being whiter than snow. When we ask God for forgiveness, He certainly gives it. He gives it to us because of His Son’s death and resurrection for us. He washes us clean with His holy and precious blood, and we are whiter than snow. Snow can be a helpful reminder of this truth. It is a helpful reminder of the forgiveness that we have received through Jesus Christ.
Now, when we break the record for snow this month (or at least next time it snows), I hope you are reminded of these wonderful truths.
-Pastor Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XIX, Number 10, May 2018)