Snow Muse

Welcome to this Tuesday devotional from your friends at Our Daily Bread. The reading for today is titled Snow Muse, and it was written by Tim Gustafson. Named for a tough blue-collar neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, the grassroots musical group Over the Rhine sings about a transformation that took place each year in the city. Whenever we'd get our first real snowfall of the year, it felt like something sacred was happening, explains band co-founder Linford Detwiler.

Like a little bit of a fresh start, the city would slow down and grow quiet. If you've experienced a heavy snowfall, you understand how it can inspire a song. A magical quietness drapes the world as snow conceals grime and grayness.

For a few moments, winter's bleakness brightens, inviting our reflection and delight. In the book of Job, Elihu, the one friend of Job who may have had a helpful view of God, noted how creation commands our attention, saying in chapter 37, God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He says to the snow, fall on the earth, and to the rain shower, be a mighty downpour. Such splendor can interrupt our lives, demanding a sacred pause, so that everyone he has made may know his work.

He stops all people from their labor, Elihu observed in verses 6 and 7. Nature sometimes seizes our attention in ways we don't like. Regardless of what happens to us or what we observe around us, each moment, magnificent, menacing, or mundane, can inspire our worship. The poet's heart within us craves the holy hush. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is taken from Job chapter 36 verses 26 through 29 and chapter 37 verses 5 through 7. How great is God beyond our understanding!

The number of his years is past finding out. He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams. The clouds pour down their moisture, and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?

And now chapter 37 verses 5 through 7. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, fall on the earth, and to the rain shower, be a mighty downpour, so that everyone he has made may know his work.

He stops all people from their labor. Now let's go to our Holy Father in prayer. Father, most of us rarely stop and consider how amazing your creation is and how inconceivable your power is. Thank you for this world that you have created to sustain us and for us to enjoy life and all your great gifts. May we use this gift wisely and in a way that pleases you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.