Whiter Than Snow

For as the rain cometh down, and

the snow from heaven, and returneth

not hither, but watereth the earth,

and maketh it bring forth and bud,

that it may give seed to the sower,

and bread to the eater.

Isaiah 55:10

Many of us have been going through a season of snow. There are places in our country where I don't think folks have seen their lawns in several weeks. I have loved the snow we have gotten here in Eastern Tennessee. It's been a real throw back in my memory of many snowy days in Southern Illinois that I loved as a child. We would, of course, build the proverbial snowman in the front yard. It was also a time to get the sled out. We would take our sled to Kolesar Hill where the street was blocked off for kids who had the sledding bug. My dad would tie my sister's and my sled to the back bumper of his car. With packed snow on the streets, he would drive very carefully giving us a wonderful ride on our sleds.

I stood with a Kansas farmer one day after a big snow. I asked him if the snow, as deep as it was, would do harm to his fields, especially if a crop had been planted. In Kansas we could have snow sometimes through March. He thought for awhile and said that most farmers would rather have snow than a huge rain storm. He explained that a driving rain can tear up the soil and much of the water can just sit on top. However, he said that snow melts ever so slowly so it wonderfully soaks deep into the soil without doing the surface any real damage.

That lesson from the farmer that day also taught me something about my own personal Bible study. I was at a stage at that time where I would go for days not reading my Bible and then after feeling guilty would take my Bible with me for an afternoon and read by the hour, much like allowing rain beating on that farmer's field. I've learned since then that the most valuable Bible reading and study I do is on a regular basis, not too much and not too little. I would read enough and still do, to allow the Scriptures to do a slow soak into my heart and spirit. Those times of reading as I recall were so meaningful and beneficial, while the surfacey reading was more out of guilt. No matter what methods I have used, the slow-seeping-like-snow method has always been such a blessing.

I remember when in grade school that it wasn't unusual to hear a singing advertisement on the radio (no TV yet). This advertisement touted the benefits of Rinso laundry SOAP. They would sing and declare that Rinso laundry soap produced the whitest clothes possible. Today we don't have soap...no bubbles...and the companies aren't really interested in white clothes. Their detergents today are just supposed to remove stains. Rinso was meant to be sudsy, producing the whitest of clothes.

Do we really know how white snow is? When we took a drive through the mountains yesterday, the sun came out. I had to quickly reach for sunglasses. The combination of bright and white were more than my eyes could take. Snow can be beautiful, scenic but we've all notice how unlovely it can be in the melting process with mud and animal tracks in it.

Guess what? As often as God cleans us up, we still get dirty again. Oh this “dirty” isn't the loss of salvation but in this world, we brush up against the soil of this world all the time. I love David's prayer in Psalm 57, verse 7:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall

be clean: wash me, and I shall be

whiter than snow.

Purge: purify

Hyssop: a plant in the mint family. It's familiar to us because of the passover event in Egypt. God's people were given instructions as to how to survive the coming of a death angel who would kill the firstborn in every house. They were to take hyssop that had stiff stems and hairy leaves that worked very well in spreading the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintels of the door of a house.

You and I are purified still by blood...the blood of Jesus. No need for blood over our doors. His blood cleans us like nothing else. David was confident in asking to be washed by God. In that request he knew that his heart would be whiter than snow. I don't know about you, but I so want my heart to have that kind of purity...whiter than snow. The next good snow take a good look at it, notice it's whiteness and then praise the Father that He can purge and clean us up compared to the whiteness of that snow. There's no Rinso that can make anything that white. There's a hymn that I dearly love:

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole,

I want Thee forever to ransom my soul;

Break down every idol, case out every foe;

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Whiter than snow

Yes, whiter than snow.

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

...James Nicholson

...William G. Fischer

Father...I do long to be whole, idol free and fit for serving You. Wash me, scrub me, purify me no matter how You have to do it. For Your glory, I want to be whiter than snow. In Jesus precious name...Amen