“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”
—Isaiah 60:1

As 2013 came to an end and preparations made for a special year of prayer for Libya, the Lord ‘dusted’ this war-torn country with his beauty from above. Although snow is quite a natural weather phenomenon in winter, it is not the ‘norm’ in this part of the world. In general, Libya is associated rather with heat, sand and oil. But, when seeing these photographs taken in Tarhuna, 80km south of Tripoli on 30th December 2014, Isaiah 55:10-11 came to mind.

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Tarhuna and country side

It is as if the Lord confirmed through the snowfall that His Word through the prayers of 2014 will accomplish His desires for Libya. Nobody can prevent rain or melted snow to filter into the soil and wet the seeds. Going through other scriptures about snow in the Bible, proofed to be quite applicable for the current situation in the country.

• The ‘storehouses of snow’ are reserved for ‘troubled times, or days of war and battle’ (Job 38:22,23) It is as if the Lord if trying to remind the people of Libya to look at Him for a solution and not political parties and different factions.
• “He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth, … so that all men he has made may know his work.” (Job 37:6-7) May Libyans truly seek Him this year and come to know Him through his work in creation!
• The snowfall is also an invitation to the Libyan people to come to Father to wash our sins away.

“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.
—Isaiah 1:18

Those who choose to be washed, will be worthy of walking with Him. (Rev 3:4)

Snow also refreshes the earth and our souls.(Proverbs 25:13)

May this snowfall be a prophetic reminder of Father’s good plans for Libyans and that His desire is for ALL people to be saved.

Prayer for 2015
Thank you, Lord for covering Libya with your refreshing snow from your heavenly storehouse. May this remind our brothers and sisters daily of the Righteous One, covering our sins. You are the Living Water, a never ending stream of life-giving source. We thank and praise you that the melting snow will symbolically feed the seeds of your Word sown through the ages in this region. Although we cannot see underground water, we know it is there. We know and believe your Word cannot be chained by machine guns or return empty, but will accomplish your desires. We long to see new plants appearing this year as we pray for the land to be restored. To You, all the praise, glory and honour. Amen!