So...let it snow, really!

In the children’s learning center at our little church, one of the verses we studied today was:

“He [God] spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes”
(Psalm 147:16) NIV

The Bible is clear about who is in charge of the weather--
despite our wide-ranging feelings about it on any given day.

         His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the
         clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3b)

         When he established the force of the wind and
         measured out the waters, when he made a decree
         for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,
         then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he
         confirmed it and tested it.  (Job 28:25-27)

         He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
         he sends lightning with the rain and brings out
         the wind from his storehouses. (Psalms 135:7)

         Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides
         rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on
         the mountains. (Psalms 147:8)

         lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds
         that do his bidding, (Psalms 148:8)
                              

It may be easy to recognize the comeliness of the earth after a spring rain when He has washed the world clean. In sheer relief we may praise Him for safety after the fury of a hurricane has passed us by.

After all, we are told, “The heavens declare the glory of God;the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

Declare!

Proclaim!

These are “in your face” indications of our Father’s hand in the weather around us, for those whose eyes are open and who choose to believe the truth in those words.

But an even more astounding message came to my simple heart as I looked at a book we showed the children of greatly magnified pictures of real snowflakes with their varied and magnificent designs and exquisite beauty. God could have produced and then demonstrated any number of dramatic and outward natural manifestations of his creation and glory and then said, “It is good” and stopped at that.   

WA Bentley photographing snowflakes

No, rather He chose to make perfect the tiniest details of his creation...things that can barely be seen or remain unseen to the natural eye...things like cells and their chromosomes, micro-organisms and fragrances, atoms and ...snowflakes. 

Why? Why did He go to such great lengths to show Himself in the things He made? I have, of course, no definitive answers other than--

1. He did it for His glory

2. And, as was said of His Son, “He has done everything well” (Mark 7:37)

There is certainly a lesson in that!

See: Bentley & Humphreys (1962) Snow Crystals New York:Dover.

The Bentley Collection

Wilson A. Bentley (Smithsonian)