Early in this new year, we were on the receiving end of some major snow – nearly a foot! – which caused some of the worst traffic backups imaginable in the metro Washington, DC, area. In fact, these snow-related traffic issues made the national news as we watched a 40+ mile backup on I-95 with people stranded in their vehicles for 24 hours. Our hearts went out to these stranded individuals who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Despite all of our modern technology, we still find ourselves at the mercy of things – like a snowstorm – which are beyond our control. Needless to say, something like this is a very humbling experience. But blessings can also be found through experiences like this if we are willing to see them. Neighbors helping neighbors shovel out driveways and becoming better acquainted with one another. Relying on the kindness of strangers to help push our car out of the snow as we tried to get home. Giving thanks for the snowplow drivers who work around the clock to clear roads. You get the picture.

The day after the big snow, I was looking out the window at the landscape now blanketed in all that snow. It was beautiful to behold – pristine, glistening in the brilliant afternoon sunshine, picture perfect. All of this reminded me of a passage from Scripture, in which the Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

(Isaiah 55:10-11)

The snow, like everything else which the Lord God has created, serves a purpose – a good purpose. We sometimes forget this when all we can think about is how all that snow makes for more work. No, God tells us that the rain and the snow have their own good purpose. They provide that much-needed moisture to replenish the soil that produces the food which we need to live. Like the proverbial domino effect, touch one thing and many other things are impacted. Everything in this world is inter-connected in ways that stagger the imagination. That’s important for us to remember at all times, but maybe especially so at the beginning of a new year that stretches out before us.

God reminds us that his Word is like that rain and snow: it serves his own good purpose. The Word of God is not just dead words on a page. Quite the opposite! As the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament puts it: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Martin Luther, the great reformer, had this to say about that written Word which makes known to us the living Word, the Word-made-flesh, Jesus Christ: “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me.” As a very wise person once said, we do not so much read the Scriptures as the Scriptures read us. Think on that!

The purpose of the Word of God is to call us to faith; to a restored and right relationship with God our Maker and Redeemer. That Word summons us to see all of life through the eyes of the One who formed us in his own image, who loves us with an everlasting love, who died for our sins and rose again for us and for our salvation. This is the blessing of that heavenly rain and snow that water not just the earth, but our very lives, causing us to produce fruits of faith that bless the lives of those around us. These fruits of faith abide; they last. They give evidence of Christ’s love and light in our lives, drawing others to him.

So the next time we get that blanket of snow or that shower of rain, think back to what God has spoken through Isaiah. There’s more here than meets the eye.