It was one of the strangest funerals on record. Nobody was being
buried, but things were being buried in a lot of little graves, and in
one, the Bible was being buried. Shackleton and his men were
exploring the Antarctic when they were over whelmed by the forces
of nature. Their ship, Endurance, unfortunately, could not endure
the pressure of the ice, and it was crushed into splinters. Shackleton
and his men were adrift on an island of ice. He was convinced their
only hope was to move across the ice to the other side of the floe.
He ordered his men to sift through their belongings and reduce
their luggage to two pounds each. It was a sad sight to watch as they
each went apart, dug a hole in the snow, and began to dispose of
their possessions. Bundles of letters they had from their wives were
placed in their miniature mausoleums. Little gifts that they had
received before leaving from England, and all of the sentimental
things had to go, except the lightweight pictures of their wives and
sweethearts.
Meanwhile, Shackleton had to make a decision as he sorted
through things. What should he do with the ships Bible. It was a
gift from the Queen Alexandra. It was too heavy to carry along, but
could it be abandoned? Shackleton decided to compromise. He tore
out the fly leaf burying the Queens inscription in her own
handwriting, and he tore out one page of the Bible. Which page
would you choose to save if you could only save one? It would not
likely be the one which he choose, but you would not likely be in his
situation either. He selected the leaf containing the 37th and 38th
chapters of Job.
They were marooned on an island of snow and ice, and these
chapters reminded them that God was the author and creator of
snow and ice. It seemed like a God forsaken place, but these
chapters kept them aware that they were never out of the hand of
God, for His hand is in all of nature. God, in these chapters, is
challenging Job and all men to look at nature and learn from it why
they need to stand in awe before their Creator.
That part of nature we want to focus on is--snow. There are 25
references to snow in the Bible, and we are to live by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and so snow is to be a part of
creation that teaches us something about God. Doctor Talmage, that
great preacher of nature sermons, tells of two rough wood cuts he
saw as a boy. They hung side by side, and one portrayed a lad
warmly clothed, looking out of the door of his farm house upon the
first flurry of snow. Hearing the jingling sleigh bells and the frolic
of his play fellows in the deep banks, he is clapping his hands and
shouting: "It snows! It snows!"
The other sketch was of a boy, haggard and hollow-eyed with
hunger, looking for the broken door of a wretched home. Seeing the
falling flakes is to him a sign of more cold, less bread, and greater
privation. Wringing his hands, and with tears rolling down his
cheeks he cries: "It snows! It snows!" Two boys seeing the same
thing, but with totally different emotions. What we have here is not
just a matter of different strokes for different folks. Snow means
different things to different people, but it also means different things
to the same people at different times. Snow is one of those aspects of
reality that is both a potential burden, and a potential blessing,
and which it becomes depends a great deal upon your perspective.
Snow is a great deal like its creator. God is love, and the warmth
of His grace is the source of all our comforts and joys. But God is
also a consuming fire, and His judgment can be the source of great
sorrow. Snow, like God, can be a blessing or a burden; a joy or a
judgment. It has been both in my life as I am sure it has been in
yours. You have no doubt been awed by its beauty, but also made to
feel awful by its brutality.
Snow has been a major force that has determined the destiny of
many people. Such was the case with Napoleon. In the winter of
1812 Napoleon marched away from Moscow with 200,000 men on a
bright and beautiful October 19 morning. As the day wore on, the
sky darkened, and soon the snow began to fly. Harmless little
missiles, but in sufficient quantities one of nature's most deadly
weapons. Multiplied billions of these insignificant flakes fell until
the horses could not pull the supply wagons. The men began to fall
from fatigue. Here was the army that brought Emperors to their
knees, and made all men tremble. Now they do battle with the silent
and gentle snowflake, and before it is over, 132,000 men parished.
Such is the awesome power of snow.
Snow is one of God's object lessons on the power of unity. Get
enough weak people together who could do nothing alone, and they
can change the course of history by being united. It is a lesson
Christians have a hard time learning. Christianity is constantly
weakened by division and disunity. Christians are often as
ineffective in blocking the road of evil as a hand full of snowflakes
are in blocking a road. Snow is only powerful in quantity. When
you get enough of these helpless flakes together there is no power
on earth can stop them. They cave in roofs, bring down wires, and stop
armies. If Christians could unite in their efforts there is no force of
evil that could hold them back. Jesus said the very gates of hell
could not prevail against them.
It is the combination of masses of little influences that change
history. It is not just great leaders, but the persistent impact of
millions of Christians letting their light shine, and being the salt of
the earth, that is the key to Christianity's power in the world.
Forgetting this lesson of the snow has led many Christians into
defeat. They weak and helpless to make a difference, and because
they cannot be an avalanche, they refuse to be a snowflake, and the
result is the army of evil keeps marching, and is undefeated.
If only we could enter into the treasure of the snow as Job is
advised to do by God. Snow is used often in the Word of God as a
tool for teaching. Job 37 and 38 are two of the great nature chapters
of the Bible. In them snow, hail, ice, and frost, all of the different
forms of solid or frozen H2O, are used to illustrate God's power.
Let's look at snow and see what we can learn from its power. The
first and most obvious power of snow is its-
. POWER TO PURIFY.
Isa. 1:18 is the best known text about snow. "Though your sins
are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow." Winter would be so
ugly without snow. The landscape becomes so dead and dark, and
the dirt and grime make everything ugly. But then the gentle snow
falls from heaven and all is transformed. These billions of artists of
the air reach down and paint this drab world bright. God never
paints more beautiful than when he paints in white.
It is all done with as little noise as a cat on a carpet. The winter
scarred landscape is clothed in sparkling splendor, and all of this is
nature's illustration of the grace of God. Jesus shed His blood to do
for us what snow does for the world. By His death Jesus made it
possible for us to cover our sin scarred nature with the glorious
garment of His snow white righteousness. It too is all done in such
gentle silence. Noise is not needed for power. God's power, by
which He cleanses, forgives, and beautifies our lives, is a gentle
power.
If you go to a factory where lace is made, you will doubtless hear
the whirl of many machines, but God makes His lace in silence. Let
us learn this lesson from the snow. Great and powerful things do
not need to be accompanied by external noise. Powerful things can
and do happen in our lives in complete silence with no noise or
fanfare. We deal with God whose grace falls like snow from heaven,
and our guilt is covered, our sin forgiven, and our garment of
righteousness is restored to splendor before God. And all of this
power takes place in our inner being with no sound whatever.
Shelley, in Prometheus Unbound, compares the silent power of
snow to the silent power of thought, which can build up until, like
snow, it can produce an avalanche.
Hark! The rushing snow!
The sun-awakened avalanche! whose mass,
Thrice sifted by the storm, had gathered there
Flake after flake, in heaven-defying minds
As thought by thought is piled, till some great truth
Is loosened, and the nations echo round,
Shaken to their roots, as do the mountains now.
As Jesus entered history so quietly, and yet made the biggest
change in history, so the snowy blanket of heaven is let down in
gentle quietness, and changes everything. David prayed, "Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow." Snow is the symbol of God's silent
but powerful grace which covers a multitude of sins. R. E. Neighbor
wrote,
The snow! The snow!
To men below
It brings a sparkling white;
It fills the earth
With joy and mirth
With music and delight.
So, Christ came down
My life to crown,
To make my black heart white;
To make me whole,
And fill my soul
With rapturous delight.
Snow is used in both testaments to describe God the Father and
the Son. In Dan. 7:9 the Ancient of Days had raiment as white as
snow. On the Mount of Transfiguration, and when John saw Jesus
in heaven, he had garments and hair as white as snow. Snow is like
Jesus, not only in that it comes down from above to cover over the
ugliness of winter, as Jesus covers over the ugliness of sin, but
snow ,like Jesus, comes to give life and life abundant. Snow has
saved the lives of many people. David Lloyd George, one of
England's great prime ministers, was called the snow baby. His
mother was caught in a snow storm in south Wales when he was just
a baby. She became lost in the hills, and a search party was sent out.
She was found dead, but she had wrapped the baby in her outer
garment and placed him under the snow. To everyone's surprise he
was still alive. It was one of paradox's of snow, that as cold as it
was, it was the source of preserving heat that gives life.
The snow cover one the ground prevents the heat that radiates
from the earth from escaping. This warm air that is kept in the
earth by the snow keeps the roots of plants and trees from freezing.
The earth under the snow can be as much as forty degrees warmer
than on the surface. The snow is God's blanket for the earth. It also
provides shelter for rabbits and squirrels, and many other creatures
who need to escape from the cold winter air. Not only is there life in
snow from that perspective, but many have had the experience of the
couple who crashed in a plane in the Canadian wilderness, and
survived for six weeks on melted snow. The water of life is in snow,
and gives us another parallel between it and Christ.
I never realize how important snow is to farmers until I lived in
the country for a few years. Then I saw with my own eyes what
snow does for bringing forth the fruits of the earth. Where the snow
is deepest you can see the crops grow taller. There is a direct
correlation between the depth of the snow and the height of the
crops. Snow is a very literal treasure to the farmer. When snow
falls it washes out the air, and what it washes out it brings down to
the ground as fertilizer. Four major chemicals like ammonia and
nitrates are brought to the earth by the snow. It would cost a
farmer thousands of dollars to purchase these fertilizers that snow
provides free. Everything that we eat is better and cheaper because
of snow. Snow is a protector and promoter of life.
Milk-white down from the swans of the Lord,
Fleece from the Lamb of God,
Flung to the winds by the cherubs
A quilt for the sleeping sod.
We need to see the positive side of snow so we can be grateful in
spite of the nuisance it is. It is part of winter, but it is also part of
the defense against winter. We need to see snow flakes as guardian
angels which protect the seeds from frost. They come not just to
make life miserable, but to make it more fruitful and abundant. A
total perspective on snow will give us a balance view, and help us be
grateful even when we complain about the problems it causes.
John Greenleaf Whittier could see snow flakes as the winter
flowers that help bring forth the flowers of spring. He writes,
Fill soft and deep, oh winter snow,
The sweet azalea's oken dells,
And hide the banks where roses blow,
And swing the azure bells!
O'erlay the amber violet's leaves
The purple aster's broad side home,
Guard all the flowers her pencil gives
A life beyond their bloom.
Paul said if there is anything lovely think on these things, and
snow is one of the most lovely things in all of creation. It is so
because it comes from the mind of Christ, the original of all the
artistry of all creation. D. J. Burrell wrote, "Out of the mint of God
up yonder falls this glorious wealth all stamped with His image and
superscription." God told Job to consider the snow, for He ranks it
with the stars and the seas among nature's wonders.
There are men who devote their life to the study of snow flakes.
Wilson Bentley was a photographer of snow flakes, and he tells of
their infinite variety. When he finds a special beauty he is full of
anxiety, for if he fails to capture that beauty it will be gone forever.
His job is so exciting because every flake is a new discovery. In 40
years he has never found two alike. Along with the thrill comes the
despair that so few of these countless works of art can be preserved.
He has photographed thousands of these exquisite beauties, but
when he reflexes, he realizes that all of them together would only
make one snowball. He says the study of snow forces you to think of
the infinite. That is exactly why God told Job to consider the snow.
It leaves you full of awe at what you can know, and even more awed
at what you cannot know, because the finite cannot grasp the
infinite. All of mankind together have never seen a fraction of God's
master pieces of art in the snow. Julian Janus wrote,
Snow flakes falling, twisting, swishing,
There upon my window sill.
Who of heaven's great designers
Traced your lace with such great skill?
Soft and fragile web of mystery
Falling on my window sill.
I shall wonder, ever wonder
Whose hand held that magic quill.
One of the treasure's of the snow is that, the more you study it,
the more you must acknowledge the Lordship of its Creator.
Prescott said, "I think better of snow storms sense I find that though
they keep a man's body indoors, they bring the mind out."
Scientists, for example, tell us that about 15 tons of snow and rain
fall on the earth every second the year around. The energy involved
is mind boggling. To cover one square mile with ten inches of snow
is equal to twice the energy in two of the atom bombs dropped on
Hiroshima. The power and the beauty of a snow storm is awesome.
It is designed by God to keep us aware of our finiteness and
weakness so that we might in wisdom worship Him who has all
power. Snow is the source of abundant life also in that it provides
man with so many enjoyable activities. There's no fun like snow
fun. Millions enjoy winter sports, and children enjoy the fun of
snow as one of the great fringe benefits of God's winter carpet.
F. W. Boreham, the great preacher of Australia, tells of the time
when the paper reported that snow had fallen on the hills outside the
city. Friends stopped to pick him up to go see it. It was so rare that
close to the equator that the road was swarming with people
wanting to see it. The experience did for him what God wanted it to
do for Job. Boreham wrote, "I confess with shame that, in the days
of my darkness and ignorance, I thought that prophets were few and
far between. I fancied that God send one prophet to every million
people. The snow flakes taught me that God sends a million
prophets to every one of us. For the snow flakes are themselves
prophets. They are a great and white-robed throng; a goodly
fellowship; a multitude that no man can number. They are vocal
with inspired speech."............................ "Catch a snow flake on a
sheet of glass; examine under a microscope, and what a triumph of
architecture you have here! Not among the palaces of the Pharaohs
nor among the temples of the Athenians could you find anything to
rival this in daintiness, in symmetry, in splendor!" Many designers
have admitted they get their ideas from the study of the Master's
designer's work as they see it in the snow flake.
Yes, the heavens do declare the glory of God, but not just in the
stars, but in the snow flake as well. We see there the love of God for
the minute also. It is a vast universe, yet God designs every snow
flake with a unique beauty of its own. It is clear that God cares for
the small as well as the great. No man can study the snow and have
any doubt that God cares for him as an individual. God desires
every person to develop all their potential for beauty and
uniqueness.
There is no aspect of life so small and insignificant that God is
indifferent to it, for He is a God of minute detail. You say, what
possible difference can it make to God that I have a minor problem
or need? But then ask, what possible difference could it make to
God that billions of snow flakes will melt unseen, yet each is made
unique? Why bother with the insignificant individual snow flake?
No person is lost in the crowd with God. He cares about every life,
and every detail of every life. Every one is someone special to God.
George Cooper wrote,
Brave your storm with firm endeavor,
Let your vain repining go!
Hopeful hearts will find forever
Roses underneath the snow.
Let every snowfall remind you of the treasure's of the snow, and
let every flake remind you of the rose of God's love for every
individual.
