SNOW

by Hallie Gipson

Has it ever happened while you are reading a passage from God’s word that it suddenly takes on a meaning or connection to another passage(s) that you haven’t seen or thought of before? That very thing occurred to me this morning as I watched the snow fall, covering everything in sight in a beautiful blanket of white.

As I began to think about the snow and God’s creation of it, I thought of the verses in the Bible that speak about the snow and realized I could not easily recall them to mind . . . and so the search began.

Psalm 147:16

“He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments; who can stand before His cold?”

Matthew Henry’s commentary on this particular verse begins by saying:  “In general, whatever alterations there are in this lower world (and it is that world that is subject to continual changes) they are produced by the will, and power, and providence of God.” And he continues – “snow . . . is compared to wool for its whiteness, and its softness; it falls silently, and makes no more noise than the fall of a lock of wool; it covers the earth and keeps it warm like a fleece of wool, and so promotes its fruitfulness.”

What a beautiful reminder that God’s providence is in all things – even the snowfall! And in the continuing cycle of God’s purpose, the end result is the earth’s fruitfulness.

A portion of 2 Samuel 23 is devoted to “the names of the mighty men whom David had” (vs. 8).  We are told in verse 20 that “Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.”

Snow was certainly not a deterrent or inconvenience for one of King David’s mighty men! As I apply that to myself, some honest soul-searching is required. Do I allow small inconveniences to keep me from a task God might have for me, or at the least, to dampen my resolve to finish well?

As I continued my search through Scripture for references to snow, I discovered Job 37:6, Job 38:22, and Proverbs 26:1.

But when I found the reference to snow in Isaiah 55:10-11, the larger picture of God’s plan of redemption began to jump from the verses right into my heart! The threads of the Old Testament are like gold in a tapestry that is woven right into the New Testament in a seamless design.

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 shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in that thing for which I sent it.”

Fast-forward to the New Testament:

John 1:1, 4, 10

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . In Him was life . . . He was in the world . . .”  (Isaiah 55:11 – “so shall My word be”)

John 6:33, 35

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life’. (Isaiah 55:10 – “bread to the eater”)

John 3:24

“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God . . .” (Isaiah 55:11 – “so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth . . .”)

John 4:24

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.’  (Isaiah 55:11 – “it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose . . .”)

And finally:

Hebrews 1:1-4

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”  (Isaiah 55:11 – “and shall succeed in that thing for which I sent it.”)

Thank you, Father, for Your Word, the insight given by the Holy Spirit that enables understanding, and for Jesus Christ! Without His finished work on the cross, our sins could never be “as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). 

DO WE WEARY THE FATHER?

by Hallie Gipson and Shirley Wiggins

 

“Hear now what the Lord is saying . . .” …   “My people, what have I done to you, And how have I wearied you?  Answer Me.”

 “Indeed, I brought you up . . . and ransomed you . . .”   “Remember . . . so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”  Micah 6:1, 3, 4, 5 (NASB)

 What a question, Father God!! I (Hallie) act as if You somehow have wearied me, when I can be sure I have wearied You with my continual inconsistencies. I know who You are – You have truly brought me up from a land of slavery to sin and into Your marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).  I realize, too, the audacity of sinful humanity – how we mistakenly view Your gracious longsuffering toward us with anything but praise and thanksgiving!

I know “the righteous acts of the Lord” (Micah 6:5) – As the Psalmist says, “He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” (Psalm 40:2) Only a God rich in mercy and grace could love me enough to send His only Son to bear the full weight of my sin on the cross.

 This knowledge sends me to my knees daily, in humility, that You would stoop to save a wretch like me! 

 “Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” Psalm 51:6 (NASB).  It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that guides me to the truth of Your word. (John 16:13)

 “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age . . .”  Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)

It is through the Word of God that we get our instructions for living lives that are pleasing to Him. God does not leave us to flounder in an un-Godly world without the necessary tools to survive. 1 Peter 1:3 tell us “. . . that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence.” (emphasis mine)

 Thank You, Precious Father, for Your redemption and for the provision of Your Word to guide us!

His Word is so rich and so deep that it makes us want to explore it in depth! 

I (Shirley) want to record what I learn and to share what I see in His word.  I want wanderers (saved souls following afar off) to become desperately hungry and thirsty for God in Jesus.  I want lost souls to do the same.

God’s grace is so overwhelming! It suffers long with mankind as He seeks to rescue and save, and humanity rejects and resists as if either His word is not truth, or as if none of us here need any rescuing, thank You very much!!

How greatly God has endured with the likes of humans!  He is indeed The Disrespected Father.  That humans would act as though His loving plan is a wearisome burden to us is the thing that is unimaginable! 

His love opens the door for His mercy and grace to pour out salvation for the souls of lost men and women, boys and girls – those who are wandering in the depths of a fallen world with no help or hope until God the Father set out His plan to redeem mankind.

Salvation is a free gift and God has gone to great lengths and depths to offer it to all who would recognize their need and receive His help according to His planned way.

He has made every effort to convince men and women of the consequences of the sin which has fallen upon every human being, while at the same time revealing His solution for the sin of the world.

 

His solution was to come to earth and personally deliver the details of His plan in the likeness of man, and in the purity of His own deity.  There is only One righteous and Holy – Himself in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.¹

This plan is not easily understood nor explained.  It remains a mystery to this day.  However, the fact that it cannot be fully explained doesn’t make it elusive.

It is so vitally important that the people of planet earth open up our ears to hear what it is the Lord is still saying to the world. How can we deny what God’s word says in warning? “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.”  2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NASB)

 It is to our benefit to search out His Scriptures that we might discover the truths that He has embedded in His written Word revealed to us so that we and our children might know the truths that lead to our soul’s salvation.  (Deuteronomy 29:29)

 “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age . . .”  Titus 2:11-1 (NIV)

Yes, this grace has appeared.  And it is our duty and responsibility to respond to this truth in a meaningful way.  If we were in a burning house of roaring, destructive flames, we would surely heed the fireman’s instructions for escaping with our lives.

The same thing applies to our response to God’s invitation of salvation.  If we do not accept the salvation God so freely offers through His Son Jesus Christ, we are lost and destined for those roaring flames!  (2 Peter 3:9-15a.)  We must not, we dare not, ignore the only way of salvation and deliverance from the consequences of our own sin. (Romans 6:23.)

 We are all sinners and have fallen short of the grace of God. (Romans 3:23)  But He has determined to lead us out of this hopeless and humanly helpless catastrophe.

 There is truly only One Way out:  by the way of the cross of Jesus Christ, His one and only perfectly sinless Son! (John 14:6)

 Remember . . . so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

How can we remember what we have not heard?  And, how can we hear except someone be sent to tell us?  (See Romans 10:8-15.)

God has sent many into the world to tell the truth – He sent Moses and the prophets; and lastly, in the fullness of time, He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Himself.  (Hebrews 1:1-3.)

 Jesus Christ has come because He was sent with the divine message of reconciliation to the world:  Be reconciled to God and escape the coming torments of the trial that is coming upon the whole earth.

God promises that those who accept His way of salvation by believing in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, to each one He will give the right to become His own children, and He will ensure their protection from the trial that is coming to all those who refuse to receive  Him.     (John 1:12; Revelation 3:10.)

 

 

¹ John 3:16-18 (ESV):    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”