COLD! That is what my thermometer told me when I looked at it early Sunday morning. And the outlook was for more cold weather for the next several days as well…record cold temperatures for Oklahoma with windchills below 0. That is cold by my standard. So cold that with the 1-2 inches of snow we got Sunday afternoon everything was cancelled for Sunday evening and Monday morning. And all the area schools are still closed today (Tuesday, January 16, 2024) because of the cold. 

I don’t like the cold. Give me a warm sunny beach before snow any day. Well, I really like snow, just not being in the cold. I like looking out the window at snow. I loved the snow-covered mountain peaks we saw in the Bavarian Alps several years ago, and the snowy mountains in Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons National Parks. They were pretty to SEE. I just prefer not to have to experience them up close and personal. But you can’t have the snow without the cold. 

The Scriptures speak of both the cold and the snow. Snow is associated with purity. 

Psalm 51:7 - Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 1:18 - “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Cold is used several times in Scripture. Cold can be refreshing:

Matthew 10:42 - And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Cold can describe a lack of love.

Matthew 24:12 - Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

But I think my favorite use of the word in Scripture is a promise about the Day of the Lord in which He will fight for His people.

Zechariah 14:6 - On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.

On that day the Lord will take His people to the New Jerusalem and care for them. The New Testament it explains why there is no need for sunlight, nor will there be darkness: God will be the light. 

So, for now, I look forward to the Day of the Lord.. But one day Christ will return from that place He has gone to prepare. It will be a beautiful place without the cold. I cannot wait!