Thought for the Week
In the past week snow has covered Britain like a blanket. There is stillness as the dark days of winter are illuminated by the reflected brightness of the snow.
As we struggle to get about in the ice and snow the countryside around us is beautifully adorned. The trees bow under the weight of the snow. Schools are closed and children delight in making snowballs and snowmen and in sledging. Snow is an amazing natural phenomenon. It is a testimony to the creative power of God. Each snowflake is exquisitely beautiful and no two snowflakes are the same.
In the Bible snow is used as an image of forgiveness. King David once sinned very seriously by committing adultery with Bathsheba, the beautiful wife of one of his bravest soldiers. When David realised that Bathsheba had conceived his child he tried to hide his sin by arranging for her husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle. Then David took Bathsheba as his wife and acted as if nothing wrong had happened. It was a very
dark and shameful episode in David’s life. When eventually he faced up to his sin, he prayed to God for orgiveness, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
The prophet Isaiah was called to speak to a nation which had turned its back on God. Despite all God’s kindness to them, his people had rejected him. Their religion was a sham and God’s laws were being flagrantly broken. Isaiah called on the people to repent and turn back to God, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
The snow, therefore, speaks to us and to our nation. Each of us has turned away from God and committed serious sins, of which we are ashamed. Our nation worships the cult of celebrity and the gods of materialism. As a result we are experiencing a moral and economic decline which seems irreversible.
Where is hope to be found? God’s call to each of us, and to our nation, is to return to him that we might experience his forgiveness. The God whom we have rejected offers us hope. Whatever we have done his promise is that, in his Son Jesus, we can find forgiveness and become as white as snow in his sight.
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Weather for Ballymoney
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
