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16th December 2024
MondayReflection
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'Psalms in Life'
'from over 15 years of teaching a
college course in the Psalms '
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Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
Psalm 147
16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
The psalmist describes the powerful effect of God's word on the planet in this description of YHWH "who gives snow like wool."
Winter weather in the eastern Mediterranean isn't as extreme as it is in northern latitudes, but in pre-modern times, any cold, wet blast could be devastating unless one was adequately prepared.
We can enjoy a winter snow-pocolypse from inside our warm homes while sipping hot chocolate, but that has not been the case for most of human history.
Even to this day, there are more cold-related deaths than those from heat.
The same word that commands the wintry blast also commands a southerly wind to melt the ice and snow and cause the streams to flow again, given access to their life-giving water.
God blankets the surface of the earth with snow like wool, and when it's not snowing in winter, there is condensation that freezes on everything -- from grass to car windshields.
It's as if God sprinkled a fine layer of ice on everything like Mr. Freeze.
The "crystals of ice" elsewhere is used for hail which typically accompanies thunderstorms, but here it may refer to snow flakes given the context of the cold and the melting in verse 18.
Weather is a universally humbling phenomenon.
No matter what we may do to prepare, we cannot completely escape its effects.
It alters our lives in so many ways -- what we wear, where we go, when we go, and how we go.
We are powerless before these forces of nature, and yet we think that we can control it through technology like we do everything else.
God has a way of putting us in our places with winter storms.
They disrupt the finely tuned rhythms of our modern life and remind us that there is a God, and we are not Him.
19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules [Or and just decrees] to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules.
[Or his just decrees] Praise the LORD!
God's word not only commands the weather, but it reveals his nature in human language to anyone who is willing to listen.
The descendants of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, received this word from God over the centuries through prophets like Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah.
They reveal YHWH's nature through statutes, laws, and rules, particularly in how we relate to one another.
We are to treat one another as image bearers of God, full of value and dignity.
This is the foundation of the moral law, whether written on clay tablets or on human hearts.
Israel has been privileged above all nations to receive this law in written form in the Hebrew language and they have been entrusted with it, to copy it and disseminate it as widely as possible.
When Christ came to his own people he challenged them to think globally and share the blessings of the knowledge of God with the nations.
This is what the church has done with the gospel and thankfully, continues to do.
Today there are Bible translation projects going on all over the world with a realistic goal of having the New Testament translated into every language by 2050.
Who knows what kinds of future technological advances might speed that along.
The point is that God's word is powerful, whether in command of a storm or in command of an obedient heart.
God is not some divine butler whom we can order around.
He is the all-powerful sovereign of the universe, to whom our only appropriate response before his majesty is to say,
"Command me."
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This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
About Matt Stafford
Matt is the Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Ozark Christian College. A faculty member for nineteen years, he currently teaches in the area of creative arts, music, worship leadership and the Psalms.'
The resources on this site were created and compiled from over 15 years of teaching a college course in the Psalms and from a lifetime of praying and singing them.
May the material here enrich your praying, inform your believing, and shape your living.
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