That was music,… the wind in the pines, and the flutter of cottonwood or aspen along with the sound of snow water trickling and the bugle of an elk or the call of a wolf. Yet it was music of a very special kind.”
–Louis L’Amour (Bendigo Shafter)
“Come, let’s talk this over, says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!”
–Isaiah 1:18 (TLB)
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“Impurities fill our world and even our own heart, but God blankets us with His grace, covering us with a blanket of white wool donated by the Lamb of God.” (William Petersen) I love to look at a field covered with fresh fallen snow. What beauty, untouched by the tracks of man. But eventually, the impurities come and the field is no longer pristine. Snow is beautiful, but I also remember the days after snow, with the exhaust from vehicles blackening it.
I’ve been to streams that were once clear, but now have a sludge of pollution in them. I can remember making snow ice cream, but that is no longer safe, or hiking on a high mountain trail and drinking from the cold water that comes directly from a snowbank, but they tell us that it is no longer safe. Why–impurities. Read the second portion of Psalm 147 and think of how God purifies our soul with the blood of the Lamb. Think of the day in the near future when He will remove the curse and purify the land.
12 — Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 — For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.
14 — He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest wheat.
15 — He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.
16 — He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;
17 — He casts out His hail like morsels; who can stand before His cold?
18 — He sends out His world and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 — He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
20 — He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD! (NKJV)
Notice how many times the personal pronoun of “He” or “His” is used in this psalm. One of its purposes is to garner our praise. He gives us protection, He gives prosperity. He gives peace. He blesses us with many types of gifts. God grants peace within your borders–yes, this was referring to Israel, but also to the borders of your soul. In the midst of calamity and terror He gives His peace.
God is with us; He is the God who is there! “He’s with you in both the cold/difficult and warm/pleasurable seasons of life.” (George Wood) He was with us when we were young and now as we enter the winter of our lives, and all the years in between. “All the world is at God’s command. He directs and ordains everything in His created order. His spoken word orders the affairs of providence.” (Steven Lawson)
We do not have to try to figure out who God is. We know Him through His Word and how He deals with it in our hearts. We know Him as the Holy Spirit works on the word to guide us along in this life. Lawson states an important truth, “Knowing God’s Word is the greatest blessing to come to a nation or a people (or an individual), but obeying it is the greatest duty.”
One does not have to delve deep into theology to worship God. Try, as the psalmist writes, to worship Him in the simple blessings He gives. “All worship is centered in God–who He is and what He has done.” (Lawson) Take time to refresh yourself knowing who God is and what He has done for you. Take a few moments just to look back over the last week. What has He done for you, provided for you? Besides the things we take for granted–the laws of physics, the breath we take throughout the day, the beating of our heart–but look at other blessings. Did you have enough to eat? I assume, if you’re reading this, that you woke up every morning. If nothing else from this psalm know this–God is good! More than we can ever imagine–He is good, therefore praise the Lord!
“Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat,
I wait, blessed Lord, at thy crucified feet;
By faith, for my cleansing, I see thy blood flow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
–James Nicholson
——————————–
“Impurities fill our world and even our own heart, but God blankets us with His grace, covering us with a blanket of white wool donated by the Lamb of God.” (William Petersen) I love to look at a field covered with fresh fallen snow. What beauty, untouched by the tracks of man. But eventually, the impurities come and the field is no longer pristine. Snow is beautiful, but I also remember the days after snow, with the exhaust from vehicles blackening it.
I’ve been to streams that were once clear, but now have a sludge of pollution in them. I can remember making snow ice cream, but that is no longer safe, or hiking on a high mountain trail and drinking from the cold water that comes directly from a snowbank, but they tell us that it is no longer safe. Why–impurities. Read the second portion of Psalm 147 and think of how God purifies our soul with the blood of the Lamb. Think of the day in the near future when He will remove the curse and purify the land.
12 — Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 — For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.
14 — He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest wheat.
15 — He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.
16 — He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;
17 — He casts out His hail like morsels; who can stand before His cold?
18 — He sends out His world and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 — He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
20 — He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD! (NKJV)
Notice how many times the personal pronoun of “He” or “His” is used in this psalm. One of its purposes is to garner our praise. He gives us protection, He gives prosperity. He gives peace. He blesses us with many types of gifts. God grants peace within your borders–yes, this was referring to Israel, but also to the borders of your soul. In the midst of calamity and terror He gives His peace.
God is with us; He is the God who is there! “He’s with you in both the cold/difficult and warm/pleasurable seasons of life.” (George Wood) He was with us when we were young and now as we enter the winter of our lives, and all the years in between. “All the world is at God’s command. He directs and ordains everything in His created order. His spoken word orders the affairs of providence.” (Steven Lawson)
We do not have to try to figure out who God is. We know Him through His Word and how He deals with it in our hearts. We know Him as the Holy Spirit works on the word to guide us along in this life. Lawson states an important truth, “Knowing God’s Word is the greatest blessing to come to a nation or a people (or an individual), but obeying it is the greatest duty.”
One does not have to delve deep into theology to worship God. Try, as the psalmist writes, to worship Him in the simple blessings He gives. “All worship is centered in God–who He is and what He has done.” (Lawson) Take time to refresh yourself knowing who God is and what He has done for you. Take a few moments just to look back over the last week. What has He done for you, provided for you? Besides the things we take for granted–the laws of physics, the breath we take throughout the day, the beating of our heart–but look at other blessings. Did you have enough to eat? I assume, if you’re reading this, that you woke up every morning. If nothing else from this psalm know this–God is good! More than we can ever imagine–He is good, therefore praise the Lord!
“Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat,
I wait, blessed Lord, at thy crucified feet;
By faith, for my cleansing, I see thy blood flow,
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
–James Nicholson