Now I see… God wants me to listen

Tonight’s B. Study went as well as any so far. The lesson was about God’s mercy. Six people came (the two single women who usually attend had other engagements). Three things happened that made the evening extra special.

The first was that all afternoon our hot and cold water and our heat services were cut off. That by itself is unsurprising, but still inconvenient for hosting a group of people. No water would mean no washroom or facilities (and the meeting usually goes for three hours!). Also, and maybe more important, we usually serve tea before the lesson (a cultural norm). Without water, this would be impossible. I prayed that the water would be restored before the lesson. Five minutes before the first guests arrived everything was turned back on.

The second item also relates to the utilities. We were reading Psalms 139:11-12. As soon as we read: If I say,“Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” the electricity went off, leaving the room dim (it was dusk outside). We laughed at the coincidence and, after a moment, we strained our eyes and continued reading… even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. And just then the lights came back on. We could not have thought of a better illustration to drive the point of the verse home.

The final thing was something Erzher shared at the end of the meeting. He recounted how he hurt his leg earlier in the day while kicking a soccer ball around in the snow. Before the lesson, while we were singing, he was in agony, and could only think of his leg. As soon as the lesson began, the pain left him and he even forgot about it. The moment the lesson concluded, the pain returned. He said, “Now I see that God wanted me to listen closely to the lesson.”

We are blown away.

Snow, an Indirect Result of Sin

No one really agrees with me here, and I am used to that. All the same, I am convinced that we would not have snow falling today (and yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that; a few feet already!) if Adam had restrained himself and his wife on that dreadful day. I think this because:

1. There was no snow before the Fall of Man. Which was good news for Adam and Eve because;
2. Man wore no clothing before the Fall, so they would have been a little chilly on a day like today – and leaf outfits would hardly have kept back old Mr. Frost from nipping at all that exposed skin.
3. The earth’s weather was drastically different before the Flood. The vapor canopy (Genesis 1:8) that covered the earth before the Flood allowed for a far more consistent weather pattern, as is evidenced by the lack of rain (Genesis 2:5,6) likely until the day that the Flood began. Yes, you would be correct to argue that snow is then a result of the Flood. However, since the Flood was God’s judgment for sin, my thesis holds. No sin – no Fall, no Fall – no Flood, no Flood -no snow; thus, snow is, at least, an indirect result of sin. That makes more sense to me than blaming April snow on global warming.

 

Many creationists have written about the lack of snow before the Flood. Dennis G. Lindsay, in his The Canopied Earth, wrote:

Another marvel of the pre-Flood world included a lack of seasonal changes that much of the world now encounters. There was no ice-skating, snow skiing, snowball fights or snow shoveling. Rather, there was a year-round tropical paradise—as one might experience on a South Pacific island. It was not until after the Flood that we read about seasons of summer and winter.

So, I am not glum today because of the wet falling white stuff. I am merely grieved because of sin. (Is this an indirect way of complaining about the weather?)