What can we learn about God from the snow?  Job 37:6 says of God, “For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’ …”  God controls the natural order of things.  He sends the snow.  The actual context (Job 37:6-8) is set forth to demonstrate God’s might.  He, by use of weather, can bring many of man’s activities to a halt (Job 37:7).  He causes men to cease working (Job 37:7).  He shuts down entire airports, schools, and even cities.  Moreover, even animals, the wildest of animals, submit to His control (Job 37:8).  So snow tells us how puny man really is in comparison with the might of God.  Brother Wayne Jackson once wisely pointed out, “Mark Twain’s quip that ‘everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it’ is still true.  He is in control.”

Snow is mentioned again in Job 38:22.  The passage reads, “Have you entered into the treasury of the snow?…”  The NASB renders this verse “Have you entered the storehouses of snow…?”  The word rendered “treasury” or “storehouses” literally refers to an “armory.”  God has used in times past the weather to fight against the wicked (Job 38:23 cf. Psalm 18:12; Psalm 78; Psalm 148:8;  Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 32:19;  Ezekiel 13:11-13; Haggai 2:17; Joshua 10; Exodus 9:22-26; Exodus 10:5-15; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 16:21).  But it seems  to me that the question really is: “Job, how do I do it?  How do I form these things and store them up in the air?  How do I use them according to My providence?  (cf. Job 38:23)?”  Again, such speaks of God’s might.

God can also use snow for man’s benefit (cf. Matthew 5:45; Job 9:30; Job. 24:19; James 1:17).  As snow melts upon the high mountains and descends in streams and rivers, it provides a source of water in areas that normally don’t receive much rain.  Moreover, snow fertilizes the soil by bringing nitrogen down from the air above.  Then, there is the fact of insulation.  Snow keeps the ground warm.  A blanket of snow insulates and protects seeds and plants in the ground (especially the root system) from extreme temperature and drying wind.  Do you thank God for snow?  Do you realize how he provides for you?

Now, we look at ice.  Job 38:29-30 says, “From whose womb came ice? …the waters are harden a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.”  To paraphrase, “Job, who created ice?”  What an amazing thing ice is!  It speaks well of God’s wisdom in design.  Ice floats.  H2O is one of the few substances that is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state.   Talk about design!  God created ice to freeze in such a way so as to insulate the fish from the cold of winter.  “Job, would man have thought of this?”

Brethren, let us see beauty, design, power, wisdom and majesty in God’s created order.  Let us thank God for the snow and ice!