Sat on the porch this afternoon enjoying the coolest most wonderful rain shower, refreshing the air, giving my vegetables and flowers and lawn a much needed drink of water to quench their thirst. I could almost watch the grass getting greener by the minute. Just didn’t last long enough to really deeply water things. The vegetables and the flowers are all raising up their leaves and blooms in thanksgiving for the rain. I’m grateful, too!

Water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is one of our most abundant resources and so essential for life. Water is also a part of our spiritual lives. In Genesis 1:6-10 God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.” My Bible memories with water include Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the whale, Jesus being baptized, Jesus walking on water, the woman at the well, Jesus washing the disciples feet, Jesus turning water into wine.

Water stories in the Bible signify God’s power and spiritual renewal. Rainfall can be a sign of God’s goodness or a sign of God’s displeasure. The story of Noah’s ark shows the power of God and highlights the faithfulness of Noah. God brought the rain for forty days and forty nights as a flood to cleanse the earth of wickedness. Noah followed God’s instructions building the ark and saved his family and two of each animal species. God’s judgement was harsh. The flood claimed all of earth’s inhabitants but Noah’s family. But as the water’s receded God sent the rainbow as his promise to never flood the earth again. He gave Noah and his family mercy and the promise of a new life.

Jesus turned water, a basic necessity, into wine. It was his first miracle and symbolized a spiritual renewal. Jesus wasn’t trying to impress the wedding guests with his divine power but to bring others to his faith. The water into wine symbolizes our transformation of faith and the wisdom of Jesus.

I love the story of Jesus walking on water. The disciples in their fishing boat, looking out over the stormy sea thinking a ghost was approaching their boat, were terrified but Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus calmed the stormy sea waters and Paul walked out on the water to meet him. When the wind picked up Paul lost his faith and began to sink calling out to Jesus to save him. Jesus reached out and grabbed his hand and when they climbed back in the boat the wind died down. Jesus had walked on the stormy sea and calmed the waters. Jesus was showing the disciples his spiritual power, providing them with a lesson on how they could depend on their faith in him to save themselves in time of trials.

The Bible uses water as a symbol of life and renewal. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life,” John 4:13-14.

When fear and doubt bring rain and storms into our lives, we need to have faith in God’s divine power. Our faith in God will always keep us afloat and Jesus will always rescue us. Just reach out for his hand.

“God takes us into deep waters, not to drown us but to cleanse us.” — samrai4God