The Wonder of Rain

     June, 2015 is off to a wet start. There has been a need for rain in Maine for a while and a few days of soaking rain is a good thing. Job called it one of the great and unsearchable things of God. Most of us aren’t thinking of rain as any great wonder while we patiently wait for clearing skies and sunshine. John Piper, in the second of his two excellent devotional books called A Godward Life, reminds us that it is no joke on Job’s part to describe God giving rain on the earth as a wonder. Here is how Piper describes it:

      “Is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come from another source on the fields. From where?

      Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea over several hundred miles, and then be poured out on fields from the sky. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.

      That’s heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay there if it’s so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That’s a nice word. What’s it mean? It means that the water stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What’s that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That’s small.

      What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt. Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea, takes out the salt, carries the water (or whatever it is, when it is not water) for three hundred miles, and then dumps it (now turned into water again) on the farm?

      Well, it doesn’t dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

      How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall? Well, it’s called coalescence. What’s that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger, and when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it."

    Job’s word is a good word. Rain truly is one of God’s wonders, and when it falls it provides us another opportunity to give God thanks and declare His praises.

Job 5:8-11 (NASB) ⁸  "But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; ⁹  Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. ¹⁰  "He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields, ¹¹  So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

Psalm 147:7-11 (NASB) ⁷  Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre, ⁸  Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. ⁹  He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens which cry. ¹⁰  He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹  The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

Zechariah 10:1 (NASB)  Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain— The LORD who makes the storm clouds; And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

PRAYER:  God, let me praise you as freely when it rains as I do when the sun shines. Thank you for the many wonders all around. Give me eyes to see them and to appreciate your glory all the more with a heart of gratitude. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott