Given the importance of water to all of life's processes, it's not surprising to discover how often water, water imagery, and water symbolism appear in the Bible. What surprised many, however, is the depth of understanding about the physical nature of water of the Scriptures over 2000 years ago. It's commonly believed that many of the processes, like the water cycle, were not understood until the dramatic increase in scientific knowledge beginning with the Renaissance. But some of the oldest books of the Bible indicate that knowledge about the life-supporting attributes of water have been around since ancient times.
– from the Discovery Book Series, 1982
The Lord and His Showers
I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing.—Ezek 34:26 NET
What is thy season this morning? Is it a season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. “As thy day so shall thy strength be.” “I will give thee showers of blessing.” The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God’s blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send “showers of blessings.” Look up today, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering. —Spurgeon
“Let but thy heart become a valley low,
And God will rain on it till it will overflow.”
Thou, O Lord, canst transform my thorn into a flower. And I want my thorn transformed into a flower. Job got the sunshine after the rain, but has the rain been all waste? Job wants to know, I want to know, if the shower had nothing to do with the shining. And Thou canst tell me Thy Cross can tell me. Thou hast crowned Thy sorrow. Be this my crown, O Lord. I only triumph in Thee when I have learned the radiance of the rain. —George Matheson The fruitful life seeks showers as well as sunshine.
“The landscape, brown and sere beneath the sun,
Needs but the cloud to lift it into life;
The dews may damp the leaves of tree and flower,
But it requires the cloud-distilled shower
To bring rich verdure to the lifeless life.
“Ah, how like this, the landscape of a life:
Dews of trial fall like incense, rich and sweet;
But bearing little in the crystal tray
Like nymphs of night, dews lift at break of day
And transient impress leave, like lips that meet.
“But clouds of trials, bearing burdens rare,
Leave in the soul, a moisture settled deep:
Life kindles by the magic law of God;
And where before the thirsty camel trod,
There richest beauties to life’s landscape leap.
“Then read thou in each cloud that comes to thee
The words of Paul, in letters large and clear:
So shall those clouds thy soul with blessing feed,
And with a constant trust as thou dost read,
All things together work for good. Fret not, nor fear!”
– Sreams in the Desert ,1925
AS SEEN THE IN BIBLICAL MIRACLES:
Since water is so important in the Middle East, it's not surprising to discover how often water is a primary factor in many of the miracles of the Bible.
- The creation of life ( Genesis 1 )
- The flood ( Genesis 6-9 )
- The preservation of the infant Moses ( Exodus 2 )
- The plagues against Egypt ( Exodus 7-10 )
- The dividing of the Red Sea ( Exodus 14 )
- Water from the rock ( Exodus 17 )
- The dividing of the Jordan ( Joshua 3 )
- Elijah and the drought ( 1 Kings 17-18 )
- Elisha and floating ax head ( 2 Kings 6 )
- Jesus turning water to wine ( John 2 )
- The great catches of fish ( Luke 5; John 21 )
- Jesus walking on water ( Matthew 14 )
- Jesus calming the storm ( Mark 4 )
But the Bible makes it clear that even the regular events of nature have a miraculous element. Is God sending forth water from the rock at Moses' command and more awe-inspiring than the water He's poured fourth for millennia from the foot of Mount Hermon to fill the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea?
So water becomes the bookends of the Bible. It appears in the beginning as the source and substance of all temporal life, and it sppears again at the end as the great symbol of eternal life. What a wonder water is!