white as snow

I opened this window up to type out an update on our first two weeks of the semester. That was twenty minutes ago. I have been distracted, staring out my window at this:

The snow left us for a little bit towards the beginning of January, but it's back now in full force. If the roads are still safe to drive on, then we don't have enough snow in my opinion. Not that I wish for unsafe roads, I just like my snow to come in mass quantities.

Snow kind of boggles my mind.  First of all, snowflakes. What is even up with that? They are beautiful, but far too tiny for us to see all the detail without a microscope. I remember being little and catching snowflakes on my mittens just to catch a glimpse of the beauty. But then they would melt...so unique and also so momentary. I mean if you think about it, we can't see the individual flakes at all when it's snowing. They just look like little polka dots falling from the sky...what's the point of all that detail? It's like nature's little secret. Amazing.

But the best thing about snow is how it totally transforms a landscape. Northeast Ohio winters are notoriously gray. If there is no snow on the ground then the mushy brownish-green grass is right out there for everyone to see. Piles of shoveled snow, gray from dirt and pollution linger in parking lots for what feels like ages. People have to wear heavy coats and gloves and boots just because of the sheer coldness. And then it snows and everything changes. What brown grass? What grey slush piles? And boots and gloves suddenly seem to be your partners in interacting with the fluffy white all around you. Extreme cold is totally worth it if it involves snow. And everything gets brighter. The grayness goes away. It's supposed to have something to do with the sun reflecting off the new white covering everything, but I just call it magic.

Unfortunately, there are still those who are not a fan of the snow (and that's ok...i get it), but to me is nothing less than a perfect gift. Very few things feel better than waking up a freshly coated front yard (or parking lot, now)...before it's been plowed or walked in. When we arrived in Colorado this past December, it was so warm that we didn't need our coats and I can't lie, I was a little disappointed. But when we woke up that next morning there was snow everywhere. Glen Eyrie was turned into an instant winter wonderland. That memory will probably always be one of my favorites.

This morning when I was staring out my kitchen window at the snow, this song by Jon Foreman came to mind.

Wash me white as snow and I will be made whole.

Would you create in me, a clean heart O God

Restore in me the joy of Your salvation. 

Psalm 51, "a psalm of penitence." Sorrow for your sins and faults. David wrote this Psalm  after being confronted by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-14). David had just slept with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle to cover the sin. I like to think that Psalm 51 came to be sometime around 2 Samuel 12: 20 "Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped." David had already lost his child with Bathsheba as a punishment for the sin and performed the customary rituals for cleansing. He now worshiped his Lord, lamenting the sin and the pain it has caused in his life, Bathsheba's life, and the lives of many others. 

Psalm 51 is one of the best examples of a sinning believer and his "quest" to come back to full communion with God. In verses 1-6 David acknowledges that his sin has caused a separation between himself and God. "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge." The judgement was painful...the loss of a child...but he acknowledges that God was justified in his actions. 

Verse 7, "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." Hyssop was a plant that was used as a brush to apply the blood and water of purification. The blood was to take care of the guilt of the sin and the water washed the sinner clean of their defilement. 

In 11 and 12 David is asking that joy be restored to him. I would imagine that the whole experience left David in a pretty depressed state. He knows that only through the presence of God can he find joy again. And with that joy he promises to serve (v 13). And lastly, David offers up his heart in worship. "The sacrifices of god are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." A commentary by Perowne puts it this way, "For the joy of forgiveness does not banish sorrow and contrition for sin: this will still continue. And the deeper the sense of sin, and the truer the sorrow for it, the more heartfelt also will be the thankfulness for pardon and reconciliation. The tender, humble, broken heart, is therefore the best thank offering." 

Psalm 51 is beautiful. A believer filled with the sorrow of his own sin offering his heart back to the God he loves. One thing this is "missing"...Christ. Or is it? "Cleanse me with hyssop..." Blood and water. Ephesians 5:25-26 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." 

Cool.

The best part? It's already been done. I am white as snow. Today. Tomorrow. Always. Forever. Because that's just the kind of guy Jesus is. The kind who says, "Hey, you. Yeah you filled with sorrow. You who messed up...and will mess up again. There is no blemish on you." Through faith in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, we are clean.

Double cool. 

And (yeah it gets better) the part where David prayed that God wouldn't take his Holy Spirit from him...yeah that's not really a valid prayer for believers anymore. John 14:16 "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever  - the Spirit of truth." When God says forever, he means forever. God's love is a forever kind of love. The only forever kind of love. He has not left us abandoned, but has sent his Spirit to dwell inside of us...to be an active part of our daily walk with Christ.

Triple cool. 

So, instead of grumbling about how inconvenient the snow has made your day, try using it as a reminder of what Christ did for you on the cross. Let it be a reminder of who you are. "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God; let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies was with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" -Hebrews 10:19-23