Good morning church family,
Do you ever get to thinking and then have an inkling that ice and snow were never part of God’s original plan for creation but instead may be aspects of His curse upon the earth? I just can’t picture winter ever coming to Eden’s woods. Can you see ol’ Adam, naked as a jaybird, having to dig out after a foot of heavy, wet snow has fallen on the garden paths and buried the ox cart? I can’t. If the Lord created mankind to live in unashamed nakedness, He most assuredly would have created an accommodating environment, wouldn’t He? I imagine Eden’s weather must have been pretty boring; consisting basically of endless summer. Wouldn’t utopia’s temperatures be unceasingly warm and temperate; its winds ever light and variable, its skies always clear and blue, its mornings bright and fair, and its evenings dreamy? What Shangri-la would have driving winds slinging sleet on men’s faces like so many stinging nettles? In what paradise would a bone-chilling cold turn soft earth to iron and cast every landscape in a bleak, gray light? No – it seems snow may very well be part of God’s judgement on us.
Now, I know that many of us have cultivated a love for winter and are able to find joy in ice and snow. Bless your hearts. It’s admirable that so many New Englanders (including my own little natives) are able to find in every snow bank, not a deposit of ugly slush but a treasure of frozen delight. And I get it too. I love the more romantic aspects of the season – the heartening smell of wood smoke wafting along in the crisp night air, the crunch of snow under little booted feet, the frosted tree tops on an evergreen ridge, and the extravagant beauty of a flurry’s snowflakes falling to earth like thousands of crystal chandeliers from Heaven. Winter most certainly has its moments.
I just think it’s better to understand winter in the light of judgement and to not try and make sense of it in terms of blessing. God is such a wonderful teacher, storyteller, and artist and I believe He created the seasons as an exquisite object lesson to provide endless illustration for many of the important points He wishes to make. We glory in the triumphs of summer. We feel the melancholy of fall. We shiver in the uninhabitable winds of winter. And we rejoice in the earth’s redemption every spring. While nature’s life cycle humbles mankind, it also offers it great hope. There’s so much to ponder and consider.
When the Lord opens Heaven’s storehouse of snow and dumps it on the fields and gardens of his proud children, there is, in the storm, an invitation to remember Him. As we huddle around the fires built in our homes and eat food that was grown in summer and laid up in autumn, we are filled with thanksgiving and gratitude. To the mink, God gave a beautiful winter coat to curl up in come cold weather. To the goose He gave the ability to wing away to warmer latitudes. To the black bear He sings a lullaby sweet enough to last till spring. But to us, God gives a command to subdue the earth. With hard work, ingenuity, and a humble reliance on Heaven – He sees us through the season of death to rejoice in newness of life.
As we sit and watch the world fill up with snow through our frosty living room windows, think of the warm Heaven soon to come. And let’s also think of those still out in the cold.
We’re looking forward to getting together later this morning for a sweet time of worship and fellowship. I can’t wait to enjoy the time with each of you and with the Lord who brought us all together. What a blessing! May the Lord, mighty God, bless and continue to keep us!
- Pastor Tate
