Rock Water

Fountains of the deep  Scientists believe that, hundreds of miles under the surface, the Earth contains three times as much water as all the oceans put together. --ssec.si.edu

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Most of us  have learned about Noah and the Ark in Sabbath School. But have you ever read the details of the story carefully? For instance, where did all the water actually come from? Some of us kind of gloss right over that and assume it was all just rain from above. But that wasn’t quite the case. 

The Bible says in Genesis 7:11, “... on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.” So according to the Bible, water came forth from under the ground as well as from the rain above. The water from the “great deep” must have had a very lot of pressure behind it to be “broken up” and so forceful! 

And then Genesis 8:2 says, “The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.” So that is how the water flow began and how it stopped. And for a time the earth was saturated with the water until it finally dried up, taking several months to do so.

This finding published in Science, suggests that a reservoir of water is hidden in the Earth's mantle, more than 400 miles below the surface. Try to refrain from imagining expanses of underground seas: all this water, three times the volume of water on the surface, is trapped inside rocks.

Do you know what the earth’s mantle is?  The earth is made up of four basic layers. If we were to go from the outside to the inside layers, the outer layer is called the crust, then just beneath that is the mantle. Under the mantle is the outer core and finally, the core. The mantle is the largest layer, making up about 60% of our planet’s mass. It is this thick rocky layer that scientists believe holds all the water.

Remember these stories from Moses’ time? Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11 tell how the Israelites got water out of rock. These rocks were above ground and God miraculously provided water for thousands of His thirsty people two different times. 

Whether from below or above ground, we see that rocks hold lots of water! God is an amazing Creator, and by these Bible stories we see how His creation works to obey His will. It's also nice to know God knows our needs and He definitely has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we don’t even know.  I am thankful that He has promised to supply all our needs - even if that means getting water out of rocks sometimes. I hope that we will always show our gratitude to Him everyday!

This reminds me of, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;...” Is. 44:3 NKJV

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.