Ice & snow and God

As I sat here looking out through the 3 foot long icicles hanging outside my study window, and had a meeting cancelled because of the snow, I wondered what the Bible had to say about snow & ice...

First, Psalm 147 speaks of God's sovereignty and the power of his word over all things:

 He sends his command to the earth;
       his word runs swiftly.
 ¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool
       and scatters the frost like ashes.
 ¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
       Who can withstand his icy blast?
 ¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them;
       he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

  Then Job (ch 6) likens his fickle friends to the melting ice:

14 "A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
17 but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.

The whiteness of new snow should speak to us of purity - our own when we're cleansed by God's forgiveness, and Christ's inherent purity:

Psalm 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."
Daniel 7:9 "As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
When the Marys saw Jesus after he was raised from the dead: Matthew  28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
And finally, Revelation 1:13f ...among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man", dressed in a
robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash round his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.

So when you see ice & snow, let it remind you of the purity of Jesus and of his purifying work; of the fickleness of man and the power of God's word.
And then the snow won't seem so bad!