3. As recorded at Job 38:22, 23, 25-29, God asked about what things?

³ At one point, God inquired of Job: “Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or do you see even the storehouses of the hail, which I have kept back for the time of distress, for the day of fight and war?” In many parts of our earth, snow and hail are part of life. God went on: “Who has divided a channel for the flood and a way for the thunderous storm cloud, to make it rain upon the land where there is no man, upon the wilderness in which there is no earthling man, to satisfy storm-stricken and desolate places and to cause the growth of grass to sprout? Does there exist a father for the rain, or who gave birth to the dewdrops? Out of whose belly does the ice actually come forth, and as for the hoarfrost of heaven, who indeed brings it to birth?”​—Job 38:22, 23, 25-29.

4-6. In what sense is man’s knowledge of snow incomplete?

⁴ Some who live in a fast-paced society and who must travel may view snow merely as an obstacle. Yet, countless others view snow as a delight, producing a winter wonderland that opens up opportunities for special activities. With God’s question in mind, do you have an intimate knowledge of snow, even of what it looks like? Oh, we know what a lot of it looks like, perhaps from photos of snowbanks or because we have actually seen plenty of snow. But what of individual snowflakes? Do you know what they look like, maybe having examined them at their source?

⁵ Some men have spent decades studying and photographing snowflakes. A snowflake may be composed of a hundred delicate ice crystals in a variety of beautiful designs. The book Atmosphere says: “The endless variety of snowflakes is legendary, and although scientists insist that no law of nature forbids their duplication, two identical flakes have never been found. One search of epic proportions was conducted by . . . Wilson A. Bentley, who spent more than 40 years examining and photographing snowflakes through a microscope without ever finding two that were exactly alike.” And even if, in a rare case, two appeared to be twins, would that really alter the wonder of the staggering variety of snowflakes?

⁶ Recall God’s question: “Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow?” Many think of clouds as the storehouses of snow. Can you imagine going to these storehouses to inventory snowflakes in their infinite variety and to study how they came to be? A science encyclopedia says: “The nature and origin of the ice nuclei, which are necessary to induce freezing of cloud droplets at temperatures about -40°F (-40°C), are still not clear.”​—Psalm 147:16, 17; Isaiah 55:9, 10.

15. Why was David’s reverential fear of God fitting?

¹⁵ David must have realized that since God has and controls tremendous power, he can direct it against any who merit his disfavor. For them, that is ominous. God asked Job: “Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or do you see even the storehouses of the hail, which I have kept back for the time of distress, for the day of fight and war?” Snow, hail, rainstorms, wind, and lightning are all in his arsenal. And what staggeringly powerful natural forces they are!​—Job 38:22, 23.

16, 17. What illustrates the awesome power that God has, and how has he used such power in the past?

¹⁶ Probably you recall some local catastrophe caused by one of these​—a hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, hailstorm, or flash flood. To illustrate, toward the end of the year 1999, a vast storm struck southwestern Europe. It surprised even weather experts. Gale winds reached 125 miles per hour [200 km/​hr], ripping off thousands of roofs, toppling electric-line pylons, and overturning trucks. Try to visualize this: That storm period uprooted or broke in half some 270 million trees, 10,000 in just the park of Versailles, outside Paris. Millions of households lost electricity. The death toll was near 100. All of that in one brief period. What force!

¹⁷ One might call storms freak, undirected, uncontrolled occurrences. What, though, could happen if the all-powerful One performs wondrous works by using such forces in a controlled, directed way? He did something like that back in the days of Abraham, who learned that the Judge of all the earth had weighed the wickedness of two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. They were so corrupt that cries over them ascended to God, who helped all righteous ones to escape the condemned cities. History reports: “Then Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens,” upon those cities. That was a wondrous work, preserving righteous ones and destroying the hopelessly wicked.​—Genesis 19:24.