Psalm 147:16 He gives snow like wool: he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.… He wraps the earth in snow as in a warm white woolen garment, and scatters the frost so that the trees, etc., appear as if powdered with (wood) ashes blown about by the wind. The rain, the frost, and the snow are all forms of moisture. Winter is God's time for putting things to rights. Three things especially want renewing and replenishing - the earth, the air, the water, and to do this replenishing is the mission of the frost, the snow, and the rain. But everything that God does is beautiful as well as useful; and so we find the hoar-frost makes an exquisite silvery world; the snow hangs in festoons of wonderful glistening whiteness; and the rain makes the lovely cascades leap from crag to crag down the hillsides. We think now chiefly of their usefulness. The frost breaks up the ground, checks the too abundant growth of insect-life, and keeps the air cool to check vegetation, and make the sap in the trees wait for its due time. The snow penetrates the soil, and nourishes it both with warmth and moisture; and it carries to the ground some of the chemical elements it needs to fit it for its new year's work. And the rain refills the secret springs whence our fresh water comes, and washes down from the hillsides new soil with which to fertilize the valleys. God does grandly in his winter-time what we see the farmer doing in his little way - ploughing, manuring, hedging, ditching, road-repairing, etc.; getting ready for summer's life and growth. And the frost and the snow may carry this as their message to our hearts concerning God's dealings with us. "We have apparently very severe and hard things to do for God; but we try to do them cheerfully, and we try to do them well, and, after all, they are really very kind things, only the gracious severities of the infinite love. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.WEB: He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes. |
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