Everyone knows that, in a container, hot liquids rise to the top and cold ones go to the bottom. Right? No, although this is true of other liquids, water is an exception. Cooler water does become heavy and drops toward the bottom when first exposed to cold air. Warm water beneath rises past it to the surface. This continues until the water temperature cools to 39 F (7 degrees above freezing). When this temperature is reached, something unusual happens. Instead of sinking, the water at this temperature remains on the top, and when the temperature drops to 32 F it freezes there. The warmer water is still underneath, but it can no longer work its way to the top.
Everyone also knows that the hotter things become, the more they expand, and the colder they become, the more they contract. Right? No, water is again the exception. As ice forms, it expands, which helps to make it lighter than the water below. The water temperature under the ice is always 34.2 (more than two degrees above freezing). Continued cold weather may make more ice form, but it is always from the top downward.
Surely the Creator had a wise purpose in making this exception. If we stop to think about it, we will discover at least one good reason. If cold water in a pond, lake, river or ocean continued to drop to the bottom, what would happen? When the temperature reached the freezing point, ice would form at the bottom, building up layer upon layer, until the whole area would become a solid block of ice. No water would remain, and all fish and other marine life would die. When the air temperature warmed up, only the ice on top would melt. The ice below would never melt under these conditions, except in very shallow places.
Not only would all marine life die, but everything living on land would also die. Water in liquid form is essential to the preservation of all life. Streams and rivers would stop flowing, ocean currents would be changed, and so many things would be affected that life could not go on. But as it is now in God's amazing creation, fish and other water creatures live normally in their liquid environment. There may be a temporary ice covering over them, but life for them goes on in its usual way.
Here is another example of the Lord’s preserving care for all His creation. But while it is good to know Him as Creator, how much more important it is to know Him as Savior. As our Savior, He gives us eternal life when we trust in His finished work on Calvary's cross. "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)). Do you know Him as your Savior?