Psalms 147:15–18

For the third time in the psalm, the people hear the call to praise the Lord. They had already praised Him for His restoring grace that gathered the outcasts and rebuilt Jerusalem. Now they praise Him for His preserving care. That care keeps the gates of the city, maintains peace, and satisfies the needs of His people (vv. 13-14). It commands the seasons for their blessing (vv. 15-18). It reveals His mind, and gives His statutes and judgments to Israel (vv. 19-20).

The whole earth is in subjection to Him. The swiftest messengers hurry His commandment throughout it. He gives the snow and scatters the frost; He hardens the water with His cold, and melts it back again with a warmer wind. Nature is soft clay in His hand everywhere, and owns its God.

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working.

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature. We speak as if these things just had to happen, with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

Scripture declares the supremacy of "the Word" in the workings of what is called nature, as in 2 Peter 3:5-7. (See Ps. 147:15, 18; Ps. 148:8.)

Psalm 147 raises its Hallelujahs because His word runs very swiftly upon earth. That word does the melting and humbling of the human heart. This is the necessary moral preparation for His stepping in to heal, to gather His people, and to build up Jerusalem.

He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him, and then can melt them down by His great love.

They might have seen the creative and providential power of Jacob's God, but His mind and laws belonged to His people.

It is very possible for us to misuse the word of the gospel, just as Jacob misused the word about God's statutes and judgments. We may pride ourselves on the light that shines on us, while our hearts stay cold. But if the truth we know melts us, our state will be pleasing to God.

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature, as if these things must happen with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

And to Him the whole earth is in subjection. His commandment throughout it is hastened by the swiftest messengers. He gives the snow and scatters the frost; solidifies the water with His cold, and melts it back again with a warmer wind. Nature is plastic in His hand everywhere and owns its God.

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working. Snow is said to be like wool, a covering to keep the earth warm when cold weather comes (v. 16). If frost is called for, He provides it, or hail, at a time when He sees fit. Just as simply, He can by His Word melt snow and hail, and the wind helps this to make waters flow. Similarly, He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him, then can melt them down by His great love.

The snow and hail are laid up in storehouses — where? Not in some hidden place, in vast masses. Not merely in the invisible vapour filling the sky, as science now would say. Behind all that, those storehouses of mercy and of judgment are in the hand of God. His word produces them — the snow, to protect the grass in winter, and to cool and refresh in summer; the hail, in smiting plagues and sweeping judgments (Isa. 28:17). Cold acting on vapour makes snow, we are told, turning its molecules into crystals of lovely and varied form. Those forms are planned — by whom? Whose laws are fulfilled by these tiny crystals? The working of whose mind do they display?

Then there is the white frost of heaven that those of us who live in cold climates find on our car windows on some cold mornings. We may despise it as we clear it from our windows or shiver while we wait for the defroster to work. But it really is a blessing from the Lord, so that we do not freeze to death as energy leaves the earth. Frost is frozen drops of dew. God has given birth to each of those cold crystals that sparkle in the sunshine! He has sent them for us to enjoy!

Next to its coldness, and perhaps more striking than that, snow is the standard for absolute whiteness, for purity. Perhaps Job did not know that this whiteness comes from pure white light reflecting off the countless faces of its crystals. But what "treasures" of whiteness does God keep in store? He is light. The snow reflecting the sunlight shows how completely His essential righteousness is displayed in that work of redemption. That work lets Him say: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. 1:18).

In verse 18 the psalm says God sends out His word and melts the snow and ice. In verse 19 it says He shows His word to Jacob, so that Jacob might feel the melting power of His word. Jacob was his name according to nature, whereas Israel was his name according to God's grace given to him.

Frozen water or snow. God asked Job, "From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?" The Psalms answer it: it is God who "hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?"

All this is attributed to GOD and not to nature. "HE gives snow." "HE scatters HIS ice." It is "HIS cold." "HE sends out HIS word." "HE causes HIS wind to blow."

It is sad when we reduce everything to an impersonal nature. We speak as though these things must happen, with no reference to anything in particular. But these verses show that God is actively and intelligently behind what men call nature.

Snow may cover the earth like a burial cloth. Winter may lay its icy hand on man and stop all his activities. Still, it is His snow, His hand, to teach man His supreme power. The beast goes into its shelter; let us too enter the "cleft of the rock," until these troubles have passed. Whether the storm comes in the whirlwind of the south, or from the frozen north, it is only His breath. How good, then, to humble ourselves under His mighty hand!

The Lord speaks to the earth with firm decision, and it submits to His working. He can give such cold that no one can stand before it (v. 17). Just as easily, He can melt snow and hail by His Word, with the wind helping to make the waters flow. In the same way, He can harden the hearts of those who harden themselves against Him. Then He can melt them down by His great love.

Verse 18 says God sends out His word and melts the snow and ice. Verse 19 says He shows His word to Jacob, so that Jacob might feel that same melting power. Jacob was his name according to nature, whereas Israel was his name according to the grace God gave him.

Verses 15–18 celebrate His dealings with the seasons in power. Verses 19 and 20 celebrate His showing His word and judgments to Jacob, as He had not done for any nation. The nations might have seen the creative power of Jacob's God and His care over all things. But His mind and His laws belonged to His people.