A Glass of Water, Please
Nature requires plenty of water and God supplies it in abundance. To our bodies it is truly the fountain of life and accounts for about three quarters of a person’s weight. If you weigh 100 pounds, water will make up about 75 pounds of it, mainly in your blood and bones. That’s why it is important to drink lots of it through the day, especially when active and perspiring.
Animals, birds and insects need water, too, in different amounts, as well as plants, trees and flowers, some of which can’t survive unless they are growing right in it. Others, growing on the bank of a river, stream or lake, may not get much rain, but the Creator has provided them with roots that go deep into the soil and draw up a good supply.
Oceans, lakes and rivers are the largest display of water, but again the wonderful design of the Creator is seen in the great amount of unseen water underground that is available to us through wells and pumps. In addition, the atmosphere contains huge quantities of water that are visible when clouds appear in the sky. Although we may not be aware of it when the sky is clear, tremendous amounts of water are always overhead — millions of tons of it — ready to moisten thirsty soil.
How does all that water get into the air? This is another example of a wonder in God’s creation. In Ecclesiastes 1:77All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7) we read: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” Lakes and oceans don’t normally get too full because evaporation from these bodies of water all over the world is just the same amount as the rain, snow and rivers have added to them.
Some of this evaporation is seen when the weather is foggy, but more often we are not aware of it, the moisture rising invisibly to eventually form new rain clouds, or perhaps snow storms on the mountains and valleys, where it will finally be on its way down the rivers again. That is what the opening Bible verse means when it states “thither they return again.”
Another way that water evaporates into the air is from plants. Plants take up water through their roots and release it through their leaves. Here is an interesting experiment to try outside. Select a branch of leaves in sunlight. Seal a plastic bag over the end of the branch, enclosing 5 or 6 leaves. Check the bag in an hour and you will see that it has fogged up with moisture. Check it after several more hours and you will find a teaspoon or more of water has collected in it.
The Lord Jesus declared “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14). By this He meant that when a person turns to Him as his or her Saviour, that person will be filled with the gift of eternal life and the thirst of their heart is forever satisfied. He invites you to drink of that water right now if you haven’t yet. This is certainly the “good news from a far country” (heaven) that the opening verse speaks of.
ML 02/18/1990