Old Man Winter and Jack Frost made a stop over in the hometown of Oakman, Alabama on Wednesday. I love the way a good 2-3″ snow covers the grass and the walkways hiding their imperfections.  I love the peacefulness of new fallen and early morning snow.  Driving to Tuscaloosa this morning, I loved the snow covered fields and the snow laden trees with their branches hanging low over the path. There is a beautiful calmness associated with a light snow.  (For those in the frozen tundra called the Mid-Western and North Eastern United States, I know it is no longer beautiful, but give this Southerner a break.  We don’t get snow like this all the time and it melts away by the next day.)

As I took in the beauty of the snow as it was falling and laying down a fresh white blanket, I could not help but think of the following passages of Scripture:

• “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psa 51:7). David pens these words after realizing the magnitude of his sin.  He is pleading with God for forgiveness.
• “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; thought they are read like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isa 1:18). Ah, the beauty of the forgiveness of sin.

Like David in the psalm or the people of Judah to whom Isaiah prophesied, we have the stain of sin in our lives and on our hearts. There is nothing, NO-THING, you and I can do about it on our own. I cannot do enough good deeds to outweigh my sinfulness. The balance always tips toward sinner and away from perfection.  But thanks be to God for His Grace through Christ. I join with the Paul and shout, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . .” (Rom 7:24-25).

Will you allow God to wash you whiter than snow?

– Scott