The Water of Life

A commentary by Shannon Wayne

You can't imagine an hour without it.

Every day you use it, wash with it and ingest it. It's in the air, on the ground and you can't live long without it. But when is the last time you gave water a second thought?

A normal molecule?

If you're like me, you've assumed that water is the epitome of a "normal" liquid. Would you be surprised to discover that water is far from ordinary?

It's true! Water actually behaves quite strangely compared to other liquids. Moreover, our physical existence would be impossible without water's bizarre properties!

Take, for example, ice. A tall glass of cold water has ice on top, and icebergs float in the ocean. Now realize that this is the opposite of every other common liquid. Most liquids contract as they cool, forming denser, heavier solids. It's a real blessing that water is peculiar; if ice didn't float above water, it would sink and kill the aquatic plants and fish!

So what makes water (H2O) so different? Oxygen likes to hog electrons. This unequal sharing forms a positive side and a negative side on the molecule. Therefore water has high polarity (a large difference in charge from end to end). When water freezes, its polarity and geometry allow it to structure uniform, spread-out crystals. In contrast, normal substances just pack closer together upon freezing.

The universal solvent

Have you ever wondered why water does such a good job cleaning almost everything? Water's strong polarity allows it to dissolve many different substances, including dirt.

This polarity also allows your blood to carry nutrients to every cell in your body. Did you know your body is at least 60 percent water? And your blood is 83 percent water!

Why doesn't all the water evaporate off the earth's surface and leave us in the dust? This is a good question; most molecules of water's size are so small that they boil at much lower temperatures. Again, the answer lies in the polarity of the water molecules, giving them a strong affinity for each other, and preventing them from evaporating until much more heat is added.

Just a taste

I hope this small sampling of water's many unusual characteristics has whetted your appetite for more.

As a science student, the more I delve into chemistry, the more awestruck I am by the tremendous detail in the universe's design. I'm convinced that the intricacy shows beyond a doubt that it was designed—and therefore created by the true God of the Bible.

God designed water with exquisite precision, reflecting the care and the detail that He built into the rest of His creation. You can learn more about that exquisite precision by reading "Intelligent Design's Sherlock Holmes."

The true water of life

Not only does God sustain our physical life now as our Creator, but He also offers eternal life. Through His ancient prophet Jeremiah, God describes Himself as a fountain of water (Jeremiah 2:13). But He compares false gods and false religion to broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Thus the true God is the only source of true, everlasting life.

"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:13-14). And so Jesus Christ offers you and me the true water of life. VT