Lessons from Shoveling Snow

Courtesy of: news.bbcimg.co.uk

Greetings from the snow-laden northeast! With all the snow we have been receiving, a post on snow seems to be in order!

A few years ago, I was shoveling snow while the sun was shining. As I shoveled, there was still snow in the little cracks of the pavement. Evidently, no matter how much I could scrape, I would never get it all out. All I could do was shovel the snow, and let the sunshine melt what I couldn't.

It's the same with us. The snow of sin covers our hearts, but God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves (though He does give us the strength to do even this). We must work to clear away what we can. But no matter how much we try, we still cannot clear sin from our hearts. We will always find it hiding in the little cracks and crevices of our characters if we seek to do it all in our own strength. There comes a point where no amount of work can cleanse us- we must let the Sun of righteousness shine on our hearts to melt away the sins we cannot get rid of ourselves.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:7. Sometimes all we can pray is, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ... Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. ... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51: 7, 9, 10.
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36: 26

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