Grace Drops
  • Home
  • About
  • Bereavement & Pastoral Care
  • Grace Drops Blog
  • Store
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
  • New Page
  • Blog
  • New Page

The Great Works of God: Rain

1/7/2013

Comments

 
Picture
© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.
“God does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain upon the earth, and sends water on the fields.”

If you said to someone: “My God does great and unsearchable things: He does wonders without number,” and they responded, “Really? Like what?” Would you say, “Like rain?”

Rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. Picture yourself as a farmer in the far 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 the 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 up 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 (if that’s the way to ask the question)? 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 was no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.

I think, instead, I will just take Job’s word for it. I still don’t see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down. But if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there’s a name for that too. But I am satisfied for now that by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful—lots more thankful than I am.


     — John Piper, November 19, 1998

Comments

    Author

    John Fitts is a retired hospital chaplain and a contributor & publisher of Grace Drops. John lives in Palm Harbor, Florida with his artist wife, Patty. 
    You can receieve Grace Drops in your email each week by signing up here.
    ​

    Sign up for Grace Drops

    Archives

    December 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Adversity
    Anger
    Christmas
    Compassion
    Cooperation
    Death & Dying
    Devotional
    Empathy
    Empowerment
    Encouragement
    Endurance
    Enemies
    Ethics
    Excellence
    Expectations
    Faith
    Family
    Fear
    Forgiveness
    Freedom Vs. Restraint
    Friendship
    Generosity
    Goals
    Grace Drops
    Grace Drops
    Gratitude
    Higher Power
    Higher Power
    Honesty
    Hope
    Humility
    Judgment
    Laughter
    Leadership
    Life Lessons
    Listening
    Live In The Moment
    Love
    Loyalty
    Motivation
    Peace
    Positive Outlook
    Praise
    Prayer
    Responsibility
    Smile
    Struggle
    Success
    Tranquility
    Trust

    RSS Feed

    © This website, the images on the website, and all material found within this site are copyrighted.
    Any copying or reproducing in part or whole, without consent, is strictly prohibited.
     

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.