Psalm 147:12-20 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 147:12-20 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
Verse 13For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
Verse 14He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
Verse 15He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
Verse 16He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
Verse 17He hurls down hail like crumbs- who can stand before his cold?
Verse 18He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
Verse 19He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
Verse 20He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
Last February, my wife and I visited our daughter, who was serving in the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program in Rwanda. When we boarded the plane in Kigali for the return flight home the temperature was 100 degrees warmer than when we deplaned in Cleveland. One doesn't generally think of snow storms and Jerusalem in the same sentence. In spite of all the snow covered stables we have seen presented on Christmas cards, snow and ice in the Middle East cannot compete with the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. So when the snow would fall, the frost coat the trees and hail carpet the ground one can understand how the imagination of the poet might be stimulated. Here is an inspiring demonstration of the power of God over the affairs of the nations. Who indeed "can stand before his cold?"
This winter storm of Psalm 147 is a metaphor for God’s judgement upon wickedness and violence. Yet when the word of God blows over the frozen rivers, the landscape is released from the grip of cold and the waters run freely again. God’s word declared of old to Jacob is filled with purpose, grace and mercy. To the ears of faith this word comes to us like the sounds of spring. And those sounds on our lips become songs of praise. Praise the LORD!
Prayer
Gracious Lord, in the cold and emotional winters of our lives, remind us always of the promise of spring. Warm our hearts with your love, your healing and your forgiveness. Amen.