As I sit here on the first snow day of the school
year, after slipping and sliding on the roads to drive home from
work the evening before, shoveling three to four inches of snow
off the walkway and driveway, I am thinking about the revelation
of God to Job about the "treasures" that can be found
in the snow.
As God gave Job the ultimate science test after
the trials that Job was put through by Satan, God asked Job one
question that, on many levels, he could not appreciate the way
we can today. How many times had Job seen a large snowfall, whiteout,
blizzard conditions, shoveled a foot of snow or slid round and
round into the ditch along side of the road? Not often, I am sure.
God asked Job, "Hast thou entered into the
treasures of the snow: or hast thou seen the treasures of the
hail" in chapter 38:22. Let us take a few minutes to look
at the treasures that are in the snow before we get too overwhelmed
with the extra work that snow will bring us this winter.
Job could not have appreciated the beauty that
a snowflake contains because he did not have the ability to magnify
hundreds of times a single flake, but we can. The atomic structure
of the water with its oxygen and hydrogen atoms is, in the end,
the cause of the shapes in snowflakes. The types of snowflakes
generally fall into one of six categories: hexagonal plates, hexagonal
columns, needles, six-pointed stars, dendrite (a fernlike shape)
crystals, and some irregular shapes. The variety of these shapes
and the conditions that cause their formation and the unique conditions
under which they form lead to the general statement that no two
snowflakes are identical. The most beautiful and intricate patterns
we see in pictures are produced by the star and dendrite crystals.
Snow crystals have a wide range of sizes with
a diameter from 1/1000 inch to O inch. The factors of temperature
and moisture conditions during formation determine the size and
shape of the crystal. For a snowflake to form requires water vapor
and a dust particle which is called the ice nuclei, cloud droplets,
and below freezing temperatures. If the crystals of water freeze
slowly in very low temperatures and low humidity, they will be
small and simple. They will be large and elaborate if they form
very rapidly at higher temperatures and high humidity.
The beauty and delicacy of the snowflake shows
beyond doubt that God is the creator. This is, again, proof that
He is, and that the Bible is His word. When we experience the
winter weather let us not forget that, indeed, there are treasures
in the snow. Rt 1 Box 116A, Belington, WV 26250. aedeverson@yahoo.com