WHITER THAN SNOW

 

A rain-snow mix has been pouring all day as I write this blog. Our landscape, recently dull brown and rust with fall and winter's chill, is now softly white-sculptured by millions of snowflakes. Pretty to look at, a chore to shovel—but I got out there and cleared the driveway and sidewalks. While doing so, the “snow event” got me thinking about the hymn with the line, “whiter than snow.”

Yes, it snows in the Holy Land. More on that later. The hymn connects with the adultery of King David. Though lauded as a warrior and leader, but he also had a sin problem. He lusted after the wife of one of his faithful soldiers. Their tryst resulted in a pregnancy. Seeking to cover it up, David had her soldier-husband placed at high risk in a battle to conveniently have him killed. Then he took the new widow home to add to his wife collection.

David's sin found him out, and he was chastised by one of the prophets. That's the back story of Psalm 51, where David comes off his throne of pride and confesses his sin. In repenting, he asked God to spiritually wash him and make him “whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). On this side of Christ's bloody death on the cross, we understand the red-to-white analogy. The cross (red)—confessing our sins (black) and accepting God's forgiveness—is the only way to turn black to white, sin to “forgiven.”

As an aside, when David wrote, “Purge me with hyssop” (Psalm 51:7), he was referencing the Leviticus 14:1-8 ceremony using hyssop (a mint plant) and running water to cleanse a leper: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

The prophet Isaiah, in the same way, preached about sin and confession as he reached out to wayward Israelites: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

If your idea of Israel is a warm, arid land, visit this site with lots of Holy Land snow photos: snow in israel - Search Images .Then consider the snowiest cities in the U.S. snowiest place in usa - Search Images 

But this isn't a blog about snow. It's about a little-known man—occupation “postal clerk” in Philadelphia (and later in Washington D.C.) in the mid 1800s—who connected winter's white with scripture's memorable description of forgiven sin. James Nicholson (1828-1876) immigrated from Ireland and was active in Philadelphia's Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church for about twenty years. At church, he led singing and did evangelistic work.

His poem about sin and snow came to the attention of musician William J. Kirkpatrick, who attended the same church. Their combined efforts in matching words and tune would give us the enduring hymn that begins, “Lord Jesus I long to be perfectly whole” and includes the chorus, “Whiter than snow...”

That hymn, and another by Nicholson (“There's a Beautiful Land on High”) were included in Ira Sankey's 1878 “Sacred Songs and Solos.” Containing about 200 tunes written or arranged by Sankey, it was translated into many languages, with worldwide sales exceeding 50 million. Truly, God can accomplish extraordinary things through faithful, ordinary people. And no doubt Nicholson would have considered himself very “ordinary”--just an Irish immigrant, post office worker, who studied and wrote about birds and forensic (crime-scene) medicine--and wrote a memorable hymn.

Be reminded of the hymn's message through this You-tube video:

Bing Videos

PURE

This white rose bush is my favorite among the dozen-plus roses growing by our driveway. It's named “Mount Hood” for Oregon's snow-capped inactive volcano. But when my husband chose that variety for our rose garden, he remembered a dark night on Mount Hood several years earlier, when an impaired driver crossed the center line and crashed into us. Our car was destroyed, we had injuries...but we lived.

After that traumatic event, I struggled with bad feelings toward the man who hit us and tried to elude responsibility with lies and denials. Yet I knew God's way was not to nurture enmity against this man. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Even in far-lesser offenses, it's so easy to let bitterness and pride taint the heart. I love this old ditty by an unknown author: To dwell above with the saints we love, Oh, that will be glory!/But to dwell below with the saints we know, well, that's another story!

On our own, without other people to bug us and badger us, we might do quite well. But “purity of heart” isn't a matter of isolation or always having our own way. In Psalm 73, Asaph (one of King David's temple musicians) struggled with trusting God when he saw nonbelievers enjoying prosperity, fame, and good health. Such people even declared faith in God as unnecessary for them: “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?' (73:11).

WHY TRY?

This bothered Asaph, who complained, “In vain have I kept my heart pure, in vain have I washed my hands in innocence” (v. 13). If purity didn't really matter, why try? His attitude adjustment about the rewards of faith came as he returned to worship. He admitted he was looking at other people and not at a holy God.

When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and arrogant; I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me to glory. (vv.21-24)

I've long appreciated Asaph's psalm. He pulls no punches: life doesn't always favor the godly with bouquets of roses, riches, popularity, health, yada yada. But God never changes. In a song that Asaph's king, David, wrote: “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless” (2 Samuel 22:26).

My “Mount Hood” roses bloom for a season, then go to a winter's death. How different for humans who trust God: Asaph put it this way in beautiful words I memorized and often recall:

Whom have I in heaven but you? And being with you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26).

So yes, blessed are the pure in heart. And even if, in all honesty, we struggle to feel our hearts are pure enough, God has the “pruning” solution: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Oh my, did my rose care lead to a sermon? I confess so. But I'm grateful that even in the ordinary tasks of life, God has a message for me. Maybe for you, too.

PURE

White, purity, innocence—roses of this hue convey many quiet messages. Appropriately, they’re often carried by brides. But for me, the bush of white roses in our yard communicate life. In 1998, in the foothills of Oregon’s snow-capped Mt. Hood, my family of four was almost killed by a drinking driver. Our car was demolished; we were injured, but lived. Not long after, we needed to replace an ailing rose. My husband chose this one whose name is—appropriately—“Mt. Hood.” Its first bloom is full of clusters of white beauty, and it often reminds me of scripture that speak to purity, like these—among the first I memorized as a young adult in a Bible memory program.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9-11 NIV)

DARK AND LIGHT
That verse sits in the back of my mind as I try to be understand people and situations that seem just "not right." One thing that's helped is a daily diet of Proverbs--reading the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month--in addition to other scriptures. Over and over, as I read and think through its aphorisms, I absorb its truths and gain God's perspective. Yesterday, as I noticed the pen-dots I'd previously put by certain verses in Proverbs 29 (which says much about anger and scoffing), I realized God was reminding me again that behaviors I was enduring from a troubled person were just not right in His sight. "Whoever trusts in the Lord," said the end of verse 25, "is kept safe."  And that's what I took into my day.

Recently I was researching the story behind the hymn “Take Time to Be Holy,” whose lyrics were written by William Longstaff, a 19^th century businessman who gave generously to God’s work. Among the evangelists he  befriended were Salvation Army-founder William Booth and evangelist Dwight Moody. Longstaff was inspired by this Bible verse: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16, related to Leviticus 11:44). His poem based on that verse eventually found a tune match in 1882, and became a favorite through Moody crusades.

There’s some good stuff in that hymn about growing closer to God: Speak oft with thy Lord. Care for God’s children. Let Jesus be your Guide. Let people see Jesus in your conduct. Be led in love by God’s spirit.

But don’t take my word for it.   Find a hymnal and read the lyrics. Then think of a man in the sometimes rough rounds of business seeking to make a difference for Christ. Trying to be the white rose against the darkness of a world that’s lost its Jesus-perspective. Doing what’s right (which, by the way, rhymes with “white”).