What's So Amazing About Rain?

"But as for me, I would seek God,

And I would place my cause before God;

Who does great and unsearchable things,

Wonders without number.

He gives rain on the earth,

And sends water on the fields."

Job 5: 8-10

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?" When I read these verses from Job, I am reminded that our God is an amazing God. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever pleases Him." I doubt that many of you would argue that Job was kidding when he said that God does wonders. But look at what specific wonder Job chooses to bring to mind... "He gives rain," Job says. Rain! Of all of the majestic and glorious wonders that our gracious God does, Job chose to dwell on rain of all things. I wonder if any of you would have thought about something as simple as rain when asked to imagine one of God's many wonders... In Job's mind rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. The following is a conversation that John Piper had with himself concerning rain and its majesty...

"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 mouth to mouth, water has to come from another source on the fields. But 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 Seaover several hundred miles, and then 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 2,323,200 cubic feet of water, which is 17,377,536 gallons, which is 144,735,360 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 .000001 and .00001 centimeters wide. That's small.

What about the salt? Salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up millions of pounds of water from the sea, takes out the salt, carries the water (or whatever it is, when it's 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 millions of pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the millions of 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 millions of 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 were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it."

Piper goes on to write: "I think, instead, I will 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 there until 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." Well said, Mr. Piper. Well said.