The Earth Pants for Water
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. Ps. 42:1, NIV.
I just recently completed a trip across the U.S. by light airplane. Hour after hour I flew over green fields, green forests, green valleys. Green, green, green! Near Tucumcari, New Mexico, the color began to change to more and more brown. By Albuquerque the only green I noticed was on the mountains or in the river valleys where human habitation occurred. Why the difference? Water, life-giving water!
It is not surprising that the Bible, written as it was in the arid country now known as Israel, uses the vision of water to symbolize life-giving power. More than 70 percent of our body mass consists of water. While we can live weeks without food, we can survive only hours without water. Water is the basis of life. It provides the environment in which life processes occur. The medium for the biochemical reactions essential for life, it also carries away the wastes generated by all living cells.
But do we really know about water? Most people take it for granted. The small molecule H2O, having only two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, has a mass of 18. Other molecules this size exist at room temperature as gases. Water is unusual in that it remains a liquid at room temperature because of differences between parts of the molecule. Oxygen nuclei attract electrons more than do hydrogen nuclei. Because of this, one end of the molecule is more positively charged than the other. The resulting positive and negative ends form what we call a dipole. The dipolar nature of water molecules causes them to be attracted to each other by what we call hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds link every water molecule to other water molecules, creating a cohesive fluid with all the properties needed to make life possible.
What if God had not designed this molecule to function as it does? What if the differences within each molecule had not led to unity of the whole? Can we ask this question of other unique creations of God? Can differences between us lead to unity among us? I certainly hope so!
I praise You, Lord, for Your divine wisdom that created this world—and its water. And may I daily drink deeply from the "living water" of Your Word.
I just recently completed a trip across the U.S. by light airplane. Hour after hour I flew over green fields, green forests, green valleys. Green, green, green! Near Tucumcari, New Mexico, the color began to change to more and more brown. By Albuquerque the only green I noticed was on the mountains or in the river valleys where human habitation occurred. Why the difference? Water, life-giving water!
It is not surprising that the Bible, written as it was in the arid country now known as Israel, uses the vision of water to symbolize life-giving power. More than 70 percent of our body mass consists of water. While we can live weeks without food, we can survive only hours without water. Water is the basis of life. It provides the environment in which life processes occur. The medium for the biochemical reactions essential for life, it also carries away the wastes generated by all living cells.
But do we really know about water? Most people take it for granted. The small molecule H2O, having only two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, has a mass of 18. Other molecules this size exist at room temperature as gases. Water is unusual in that it remains a liquid at room temperature because of differences between parts of the molecule. Oxygen nuclei attract electrons more than do hydrogen nuclei. Because of this, one end of the molecule is more positively charged than the other. The resulting positive and negative ends form what we call a dipole. The dipolar nature of water molecules causes them to be attracted to each other by what we call hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds link every water molecule to other water molecules, creating a cohesive fluid with all the properties needed to make life possible.
What if God had not designed this molecule to function as it does? What if the differences within each molecule had not led to unity of the whole? Can we ask this question of other unique creations of God? Can differences between us lead to unity among us? I certainly hope so!
I praise You, Lord, for Your divine wisdom that created this world—and its water. And may I daily drink deeply from the "living water" of Your Word.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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