Words of Worth

A Treasury of Snow

January 5, 2018

A Bomb Cyclone! Bombogenesis! Blizzard! These are words that do not necessarily drum up images of snow treasuries, as the Bible says in Job 38:22

Have you entered the treasury of snow,…” (NKJV)

Perhaps many of us living on the East Coast of the U.S.A. are not finding today’s bombogenesis to be such a treasure even if it granted a snow day! And many of us, just four days into 2018, have already tired of the snow and are dreaming of finding the treasury of some tropical beach!

In Job 38, God is giving Job a sort of science quiz, perhaps to convince Job of his ignorance and shortsightedness. So one question on God’s quiz was, “Have you entered the treasury (can be translated as storehouse) of snow?” Unlike Job, I phoned a friend who is a science educator so I could learn a little bit more about snow, or “white gold” as it is referred to from time to time. I wanted to know from a scientific perspective, more about the treasury of snow. A storehouse of gold, food, drink, or weapons, I get, but what is a treasury of snow? Does God really store snow as we would store gold or other treasures? What is snow’s value? Why is it such a treasure?

Scientifically speaking, snow is a valuable nuisance:

*God uses snow to nourish and cool the earth.

*God uses snow to change the course of the great rivers.

*God uses snow to irrigate crops.

*God uses the snow to remind of us our uniqueness.

No two snowflakes are identical. Some look like needles, stars or trees, while others are shaped like fish bones or bullets. So too, no two people are exactly the same. No two people have the same fingerprints, tongue prints, footprints, or eyeball patterns!

And even though man can ‘make’ snow, manmade snowflakes lack the symmetry and beauty of God’s signature!

One final fact…

*God uses snow to cleanse the atmosphere and this is sometimes called, “wash-out” or “snow-out”.

Therein lies, for me, the greatest value of the treasury of snow. That scientific fact reminds me that every person is corrupted by sin and cannot conceal the stain of it! Only God can cleanse us white as snow!

Psalm 51: 7

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Isaiah 1:18

‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the Lord,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;