Apply the Word: It Snows!

She lies beneath almost two miles of water just off the coast of Antarctica.  Finally discovered on March 5, 2022, 107 years after she sank, the Endurance was a ship owned by Ernest Shackleton and intended to continue studies around the frigid continent at the bottom of the world.

We can only imagine the ordeal - a wooden ship, laden with supplies and men, intended to stand up to the icy waters.  As the temperatures dropped below zero and into the double-digit negative numbers, standing on deck could be deadly.  For months, the crew had to wait for ice to melt and break up before they could continue moving the ship into position.

At some points in the expedition, the boilers were extinguished as Shackleton knew forward progress was futile.  They would have to drift with the ice that penned them in place.  We can only imagine the sounds of the ice against the sides of the vessel - the groans of the ice as pressed tighter and tighter against the wood.  The eerie scraping sounds of the huge ice floes as they became thicker and thicker with the sub-zero weather.

It would be natural to worry about the safety of the ship.  Could it stand up to the stress caused by the pressure waves that pressed the ice floes, squeezing the ship even tighter.  On October 24, 1915, a large mass of ice slammed into the stern, tearing the sternpost away from the hull planking.  Around the same time, the bow planking caved in.  Water flooded into the engine room and the forward hold.  Manual and steam-powered pumps failed in their efforts.  Three days later, with the ship listing significantly against the ice, and their relentless efforts to fight nature, Shackleton finally gave the order to abandon ship.

The men were adrift on an island of ice.  They were even able to visit the ship to salvage some much-needed supplies.  Sadly, there was too much to carry when Shackleton realized their only hope was to move to the other side of the floe.  He ordered the crew to work through all of their belongings to determine which items they could carry.  He would only allow them to carry two pounds each.

It was a little bit like attending their own funerals as they separated, dug holes in the snow, and buried their possessions - tied bundles of letters from their wives, trinkets and keepsakes they had gotten in England before leaving.  Sentimental things.  Personal things.  The only personal items they could possibly carry were little lightweight photos of their wives and sweethearts.

At the same time, Shackleton wondered what he should do with the ship’s Bible.  Bury it or carry it?  A gift from Queen Alexandra, it was too heavy to take along, but how could he abandon such an important item?  One of the other men retrieved the Bible in hopes of staving off bad luck, but for now in a heart-wrenching decision, Shackleton compromised and tore a single page from the Bible.

Sixty-six books.  Two Testaments. History, poetry, prophecy, Gospel, letters, and revelations.  Which page would you choose?  His selection may surprise you.  Stranded and isolated  on an island of snow and ice, all around seemed hopeless.  Nothing but white and cold.  Which page would you choose?​

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Shackleton selected the flyleaf with the queen’s inscription, the 23rd Psalm, and a verse from the Book of Job. The queen had written, "May the Lord guide you through all dangers by land and sea. May you see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep,"  and you're probably familiar with the 23rd Psalm, but verses from Job? Here's what the verses said:  "Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, And the face of the deep is frozen" (Job 38:29f).

In fact, it calls to mind the entirety of God's reply to a very distressed man in Job 38 and 39.  Let's just pull out chapter 38 for now:

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind and said,

“Who is this who darkens the divine plan 
By words without knowledge?  

Now tighten the belt on your waist like a man,
And I shall ask you, and you inform Me!

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
​

Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the measuring line over it?

On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

 Verse 8ff:

“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When it went out from the womb, bursting forth;

When I made a cloud its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling bands,

And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,

And I said, ‘As far as this point you shall come, but no farther;
And here your proud waves shall stop’?
 
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And made the dawn know its place,

Verse 13ff

So that it would take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked would be shaken off from it?

It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand out like a garment.
​

Their light is withheld from the wicked,
And the uplifted arm is broken.

Verse 16ff:

“Have you entered the springs of the sea,
And walked in the depth of the ocean?

Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
And have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,

That you would take it to its territory,
And discern the paths to its home?

You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!

Verse 22ff:

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
And have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

Which I have reserved for a time of distress,
For a day of war and battle?

Where is the way that the light is divided,
And the east wind scattered on the earth?

“Who has split open a channel for the flood,
And a way for the thunderbolt,

To bring rain on a land without people,
On a desert without a person in it,

To satisfy the waste and desolate land,
And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

Does the rain have a father?
Or who has fathered the drops of dew?

Verses 29ff:

From whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

​Water becomes hard like stone,
And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

“Can you tie up the chains of the Pleiades,
Or untie the cords of Orion?​​

Can you bring out a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
​
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or do you establish their rule over the earth?

Verses 34:

“Can you raise your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?

Can you send flashes of lightning, so that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Who has put wisdom in the innermost being,
Or given understanding to the mind?

Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
And pour out the water jars of the heavens,

When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together?
“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness,
Or satisfy the appetite of young lions,

When they crouch in their hiding places,
And lie in wait in their lair

Who prepares feed for the raven
When its young cry to God,
And wander about without food?

You are marooned on an island of snow and ice, and these are the words you select to carry with you.  These are not the verses you were thinking, are they?  We would have selected a passage about warmth and comfort, but Shackleton wanted to remind his men that God was the author and creator of snow and ice.  While it may seem as if God had forsaken this place and abandoned them, he wanted to remember that they were never away from the mind of Almighty God.

Here is a place in Biblical history in which God challenges Job to look at nature and learn from it.  They need to - just like we need to - look out the window, feel the wind against the door, admire the snow, respect the cold, and stand in awe before their Creator.

We might be tempted to be like the thin, hungry boy trudging through the cold, looking for food.  Looking up to see fresh flakes falling, he begins to cry.  Wringing his frozen hands, the boy cries, “It snows!  It snows!”

Or perhaps we are like the warm boy who looks at the same snow through the window of his house.  Hearing the jingling bells of a sleigh and seeing his friends playing in the drifts, the boy claps his hands and shouts, “It snows!  It snows!”

​Two boys experiencing the same thing, but showing entirely different emotions.  Shackleton could have chosen different verses out of Queen Alexandra’s Bible.  His selection was an interesting one.  He could have chosen a page that describes God as a source of comfort and joy, or he might have chosen something that shows God to be a consuming fire and a source of great sorrow for the convicted.  Snow, like God, can be a blessing or a curse.  It is either beautiful or it is treacherous.  We have seen and no doubt understood both.  The storm is only a storm for the one on the outside looking in.