WHITER THAN SNOW!

The snow we received on Monday reminded me of a verse in Scripture. You might recall that Psalm 51 is believed to be King David's confession of his sin with Bathsheba. On the one hand, we see David confessing that he is a sinner and that God is justified in His judgment upon his life. On the other hand, we see David throwing himself upon God's mercy, all the while knowing that God can and will forgive him and cleanse him of his sin. After David confesses his sin, he cries out to God, "wash me, and I will be whiter than snow".

As I looked at the snow that had fallen, it was so beautiful, so fresh, so clean, so white. The dry brown ugly grass had been covered by the fresh blanket of snow and the lawn took on a new appearance. In the same way, we take on a new appearance, even more than that, a new life when God forgives and cleanses us of our sin. In fact, he blots out that sin, never to be remembered or held against us. I don't know about you, but that's good news!

But a word of warning, even though we are "washed, whiter than snow", it doesn't take long for us to get complacent and apathetic. Take a look around. The snow is now dirty and grimy looking. It's been driven on and pushed to the side and scooped away. If we're not careful, we who are cleaned up can pretty soon fall back into our old ways and also look like dirty tromped on snow.

Like David, it would behoove us to pray that God would create in us a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us. And as we pray, let us also commit ourselves to remaining pure and clean before God. Then, just like the snow that is in the picture above, we will be a beautiful representaton of God's cleansing work in our lives.