A reading from Exodus 17:5-6
The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
A reading from 2 Kings 2:19-22
Now the people of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.” He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw the salt into it, and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
Earth, Water and Creation
The literature of the Bible and other ancient works indicate that man 5,000 years ago was as intelligent, creative, thoughtful, emotional and aggressive as we are now. I like to think that we who live now have some ideas in common with the authors of Genesis about the meaning of creation. Of course, how we think about creation in the 21st century is profoundly influenced by science, but I believe that miracles and mysteries remain in abundance.
Earth is a miracle. The universe as we know it has unfathomable dimensions, and our planet Earth is an incredibly small fragment of the total. Imagine a sphere big enough to contain our sun and its planets. A sphere that big could hold almost a billion, trillion Earths. The whole universe can hold that many solar systems!
Water is a miracle. The chemistry of water is exquisitely right for Earth itself, as well as for life on earth. All our water has been on Earth for almost 4.5 billion years, being used and re-used countless times. Indeed, water contributes to its own stability.
How Much Water Is There?
Far out in space, in the Orion Molecular Cloud, enough water molecules to fill all of Earth’s oceans are made every 24 minutes. Unfortunately, that water is not available to us.
It is thought that Earth received its water from space, very early in its existence. Ever since, the amount of water on Earth has remained remarkably constant.
Roughly 80% of the water on Earth is totally inaccessible. It is contained in, and is chemically part of, rocks that are hundreds of miles below Earth’s surface. Oceans cover 71% of Earth’s surface, but comprise only 1/1000 of Earth’s diameter. All the water in Earth’s oceans, ice caps and atmosphere comes to 0.03% of the mass of the planet. Only 2.5% of all the oceanic, ice cap and atmospheric water is fresh water, and accessible fresh water is about 1/4000th of that.
The Relevance of the Old Testament Passages
The passages from Exodus and 2 Kings illustrate two points. First, good water may spring from a rock, and second, the water supply may be bad.
With a population of 7 billion and growing, human beings are pushing the limits of available fresh water on Earth. Our future depends on treating water with utmost respect, economically and spiritually.
In many areas, including large parts of the United States, the climate is so arid that there is never enough water. The US solution has been to take it from a neighboring water-affluent region.
In many lands, including North America, great rivers are fouled to death by agricultural, industrial and residential pollution.
All over the world, deep aquifers have been drained to the point where salt water is coming in; look no farther than the eastern third of Virginia. These aquifers recharge only over a millennium, so for all practical purposes, once depleted, they remain depleted.
Remedies for Our Water Problem
In 2 Kings, the cure for bad water was to add salt. In our time we work to take the salt out. Most current measures in water management are technically feasible but politically unpopular.
Three factors account for excessive water wastage: 1) It makes no sense to flush toilets and water lawns with potable water. 2) Many widely used irrigation techniques are highly inefficient. 3) There is tremendous leakage from the aging water infrastructure. We ignore all these at our peril.
One remedy is to conserve water. We can amend our personal, agricultural and industrial habits to use far less water. Indeed, that is being done in many places, including Las Vegas, Nevada.
Another remedy is to find a new source of water, that is, the water we just used. After we use water, we have to save it, treat it so it is again clean and potable, then recycle redistribute it. This is being done in many places, including Fairfax County, Virginia and Orange County, California. We have to get over the “yuck factor” and get on with water purification and re-use.
What We Can Do
Our biblical forebears understood water, its importance to life, and its relationship to worship and faith. We must hold this gift from God in higher esteem.
We must not take water for granted. We must assign to water economic and spiritual values that will foster the economic and political will to save water, store it, treat it, and redistribute it, in equitable and economical fashion.
Let us join together and thank God for water.
Let us ask for God’s guidance to use water wisely. Amen.
Last Updated on Sunday, 15 January 2012 19:15
