Thursday; January 29
Have you noticed how
common the concept of snow is in our culture?
Even in the Tropics, when the holiday season comes, they decorate with
symbols of snowflakes and snowmen – things that many of them have never
experienced. Snow is kind of cool –
literally! Interestingly, the idea of
the whiteness of snow is used in the Bible – a story that focuses heavily on
the temperate climate of the Middle East.
In the era of international media seeing snowstorms from across the
world or hearing of snow during winter isn’t unheard of; however, for those in
the Middle East, they probably weren’t all that familiar with it. That’s what makes the biblical references to
snow so interesting to me. Take this
excerpt from Isaiah, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the
evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease
to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the
orphan, plead for the widow. ‘Come now,
and let us reason together’, says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are as
scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
will be like wool.’” (Isaiah 1:16-18).
Now, while the thing that might get our attention is the mention of
snow, the thing that really stands out to me is the Lord’s admonition to care
for our friends and neighbors. Snow
might be rare, but brotherly love needs to be commonplace!
As many of us look around
at the snow remaining in our communities, let’s take this message a little
deeper and find out how we can care for our friends and neighbors who need our
help and support.
Think About It!