God’s gift of water Part 3 – the unique God-designed qualities of water

When a person takes a closer look at water, they are bound to be astounded at how amazingly God has made it.

The components of water

Back in the first century and also in Old Testament times people would have used water and known it was a gift from God. But they would have had no idea how God made it. But now, some 2000 years later, thanks to science, we know what God and his angels did to create water. Essentially, we know the recipe to make water. When God created water he used two chemical components: hydrogen and oxygen.

Man didn’t discover this fact until the eighteenth century. Yet even though it sounds so easy to describe water as being a chemical compound made up of two abundant elements it is, in fact, much more complicated than that. Nobody has ever seen a water molecule. From x-ray studies we know that the atoms in water are intricately laced. This interconnection is so strong that some people go as far as saying that an entire river, from headwaters to the sea is a single molecule tied together by little bonds.

To make water you need two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Once these are combined it is almost impossible to separate them. Because it is almost impossible to separate them it makes it possible to look at water still in existence after thousands of years at the polar caps. We see that in documentaries where a science team in the Antarctica drill down and take a ice core which has frozen water from thousands of years ago. So the bond is so strong, that water from thousands of years ago still exists today.

Unique properties of water – expansion when freezing

When scientists did their research, they found that  all matter on earth becomes more dense as its temperature falls and it gradually shifts from gas to liquid to solid state. All matter on earth does this except…..water……which behaves in the expected way of all other matter until its temperature reaches 4 degrees Celsius where something strange happens – instead of shrinking further, it starts to expand until at zero degrees it has grown in volume by 1.1 percent.

We see that when we put a bottle of water in the freezer. If we fill the bottle to the top, the bottle will explode as the water expands from freezing. So that is why we need to fill the bottle to only about 90%.

Why did God make sure water did this when it started to freeze? It is because if he hadn’t, their would probably be no Life left on this earth. I say this because of the following reasons:

When molecules from liquids cool they slow up and begin to crowd together. However water molecules are different, because of their angle to each other, water molecules will drift naturally in groups of five, into polygons which become braced by their bonds before they reach their minimum size. With the result that solid water, or ice, has lots of air between the molecules even more than normal liquid water. Therefore because of the fact that it is less dense than liquid water-it will actually float, on the liquid water.

This is probably just as well… if it weren’t so, then ice would sink, and before long every pond, pool and arm of the ocean would be solid freezing from the bottom up. Once this happened, all earth’s water would be locked away and there could be no wells or springs, no streams or brooks, no humidity and no rain. It is only God giving water this particular property of expanding when it freezes that has prevented disaster on the earth. It is another amazing proof that there is a creator who is behind the design of everything on earth. We can only marvel at the intelligent design of everyday things we interact with.

Unique properties of water – the ultimate solvent

Another property of water that no other liquid has is that it is the ultimate solvent. It cart break up and clean away any other liquid. Nothing is safe from water.

We see every lake, stream and ocean in the world full of dissolved matter making them concentrated soups of thousands of substances, including enough gold to make every person in the world a millionaire. This property of being the ultimate solvent is why it was used in the Israelite rituals in the wilderness in the times of the Old Testament and more recently, in baptism. We’ll look at these in more detail later in this article.

It was in God’s plan that water have this characteristic of being a universal solvent for it is through this attribute that minerals can pass from soil into the roots of plants, and flow from there up their stems and flowers. Without such movement within living things, life would have long ago come to a stand-still.

Likewise with the believer, he (she) cannot grow in knowledge of God unless they let the word of God flow through them nourishing them spiritually. Indeed, let us endeavor to be like that tree mentioned in Psalm 1 verse 3. In this verse we see a tree being compared with a Godly man.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Unique properties of water – coherent

Another unique characteristic of water is that it is coherent. In other words, it sticks to itself. Raindrops on a window will run towards each other.

Molecules at the edge of any quantity of water have a strong mutual attraction, clinging together to form a highly flexible coat of water molecules. And this elasticity allows a film of water to bulge like a balloon, pulling away from a leaf tip or a bathroom tap, stretching under its own weight, gradually elongating, until it breaks loose and snaps around a free-falling drop. The skin, however, never tears. Under gravity it becomes a perfect sphere.

This is known as surface tension, and water has more of this than any other-liquid except mercury. It takes a lot of force to break the tension. A film of water can support the weight of numerous insects on a small scale and an ocean liner on a larger scale! That huge ship is only on the surface of the water because of the cohesiveness of water. It is due to the surface tension of the water.

Unique properties of water – capillary action

Such is the wonder of this water that God made. The unique attributes of water don’t stop here. It also has what is known as capillary action. This is talking about water’s ability to creep uphill. Inside large trees water climbs from the roots up the trunk creeping through to even the most remote cells in the branches. Without this capillary action circulation in living things, it would stop making life on this earth possible.

Likewise, this capillary action can also take place in the soil. Soil particles contain capillary pores running through their physical structure. Each soil particle is separated from the next by a film of water. This is what is known as capillary action in the soil, when even though the surface waters have run away by gravitation there is still water held in the soil seemingly defying the gravitational pull of the runoff downhill. This water held in the soil is what transforms a soil from being a dry dead soil to a living moist one where plants can grow.

Let us be that seed thrown by the sower that lands on the moist soil and grows and not the seed that lands on the dry soil and dies.

Other unique properties of water

The list of unusual characteristics that God gave water goes on:

In most substances, the amount of heat needed to increase a liquids temperature is the same, except with water. Between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius, water is more easily warmed than other liquids. God once again had a reason behind designing water with this characteristic and this is that most active animal’s body temperatures are within this range. This is vital for animals to adapt to their environment by changing their body heat quickly.

Another interesting attribute of water is that it reflects the motion of the earth turning clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the south.

So we have seen in this article that God made water a vital substance. Water had particular unique characteristics so that life could survive on this planet – it is the earth’s life blood. Our own bodies use water also as our lifeblood.

The amount of water in living bodies

All living things on this earth come close to being almost waterlogged. That chicken that you bought in the supermarket is 75 %. water. Shrimps and Prawns which you paid a higher price for are 80% water. Tomatoes and lettuce are 95% water. Have a look at the next person you see…you are virtually seeing a container of water, that person is 70 % water.

An average man carries 100 pounds of water in his 150 pound frame. That works out to about ten gallons, two of which are used to lubricate our joints and keep up the pressure in our eyeballs. Most of the remaining eight gallons flows through blood and muscle, making even our brain 75% water. And the water soaks into places you wouldn’t expect it to go. For example, bones are far from dry having 22 % water. There is another 2% in the enamel of our teeth.

Water dissolves other chemicals in the body

However, no matter what percentage water we have in our bodies we definitely need water.

Every cell within our bodies has a fluid interior, a pool in which vital substances are dissolved. The most Important of these are hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon – which are our bodies’ basic building blocks. But mixed with these are quantities of other chemicals such as iron to make red blood cells, phosphorus to give us energy, and calcium for our bones. To these chemicals add other chemicals like iodine, fluorine, chlorine, and bromine and even silver, cobalt and gold. Together these chemicals create a living thing. But the important thing to remember is that none of these chemicals could be used unless they were first dissolved in water, and then transported by water.

It is no wonder Christ used water as a symbol of life. Let’s face it, water is the most important resource on this earth. No wonder God uses it so much to teach important principles throughout the pages of the Bible.