Drowning in a Drop
of Water
The
Big God in Small Things
Jon Bloom
Staff writer, desiringGod.org
When you read that God “is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians
3:20 NIV), what does “immeasurably more” bring
to mind?
How big is your imagination for the “immeasurable”? A peek
inside a water drop just might explode your previous conceptions.
At dinner the other night, my youngest, Micah, asked, “Dad, do you know how many molecules are in
a drop of water?”
Having had my last science class a long time ago,
I replied, “I don’t remember.”
He said, “Something
like six million billon.”
Incredulous, I responded, “That sounds way too
high.”
Micah insisted it wasn’t. So, I consulted my closest
science expert (Siri).
Sure enough, it’s not six million billion (or six
quadrillion). It’s 1.67 sextillion. A million billion “only” has fifteen zeros; a sextillion has twenty-one zeros.
Micah’s number was actually way too low!
1.67 sextillion molecules in one drop of
water. Do you have any way of getting your mind around that number?
Here are a few ways not to comprehend it. If
you could count ten molecules a second (that’s really fast), it would take you
over four trillion years to count the molecules in that drop.
There are more molecules in a tablespoon of
water than there are stars in the universe, at least according to some
estimates.
Drowning in a Drop
It makes
you see drops differently, doesn’t it?
The clear tear on your cheek contains an
unfathomable enormity.
Your leaky faucet drips an astronomical
amount each minute. The molecular vastness you drink in a bottle of water is as
incomprehensible as the cosmos.
We could exponentially increase the boggle in
our minds by contemplating that there are about 75,500 drops of water in a
gallon (U.S.), and roughly 326 million trillion gallons of water on earth.
How many drops and molecules are we talking
about now?
You do the math (and ignore the fact that
each drop contains more than five sextillion atoms and more than ninety
sextillion quarks).
These numbers had this humanities-heavy
father drowning in the drop.
Who Then Is This?
These
realities should have us trembling when we remember how Jesus didn’t drown.
The
Incarnate Creator Word (John 1:3) was in
such comprehensive command of the math and the molecules that they were
literally “in subjection under his feet” as he walked upon a sea - a sea
ironically renamed after the reigning Roman emperor (John 1:14; Matthew 14:25; Hebrews 2:8; John 6:1).
This molecular miracle was metaphorical, for
the sea would never so acknowledge Tiberias’s lordship.
And when Tiberias’s government executed
Jesus, the imperially ordered death also prostrated itself under the feet of
the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8; 15:20, 27).
It is no
wonder that the disciples were filled with wonder. As they watched the sea obey
Jesus’ command, “They were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who then
is this?’” (Luke 8:25).
Who Indeed
All their
lives they had heard of him:
And God
said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place,
and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:9)
“In
the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth,
and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty
days and forty nights.” (Genesis 7:11-12)
“Then Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east
wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the
people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being
a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” (Exodus 14:21-22)
“Or who shut in the
sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set
bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here
shall your proud waves be stayed’?” (Job 38:8-11)
“Some went down to the
sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the
Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy
wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they
went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they
reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.” (Psalm 107:23-27)
The disciples
were right to fear and marvel. For the incomprehensible reality was just
beginning to dawn on them: this man standing in their boat was the “Mighty
God” (Isaiah 9:6).
Immeasurable Might
Before the
storm hit, “mighty” meant something to the disciples.
But after watching the tumultuous Tiberias
bow its knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, it meant something new and different.
What does “mighty” mean to you?
The
disciples knew nothing of molecules or atoms or quarks or sextillions.
But we
live in an age where we perceive God’s “eternal power and divine nature . . . in
the things that have been made” at macro and micro levels unimaginable
even four or five generations ago (Romans
1:20).
“All
things were made through
[Jesus],” and “he upholds the universe by the word of his
power” (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:3).
It doesn’t
require a sea-stilling; a drop of water is more than enough to fill our
imaginations with marvelous fear and make us say, “Who then is this?”
In the
boat, Jesus asked his awed disciples, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25).
The Lord
who can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” shows us a drop
of water and asks us the same.
.
Would you want God to change your life?
.
Would you want God to change your life?
God has made it
possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own
life through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have separated me
from You.
RELATED POSTS:
.
10 Things You Should Know about the Lordship of
Christ
CLICK HERE . . .
.
The Real Jesus
.
CLICK HERE . . .
CLICK HERE . . .
.
God Speaks
Through
Creation
CLICK HERE . . .
.
“Creator King”
Don Moen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5DZWyypiBYDonMoenDanielVDKooi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGQ05WkV92EDonMoenMich
CLICK HERE . . . to view complete playlist
lyrics
You who made the mountains and the seaMeasured out the universe and You made me
Echoes of the voice that called the worlds to be
Reach throughout the ages and now speak to me
You're my Creator King
You who made the valleys and the skies
Displayed Your love on far horizons and before my eyes
You who lit the stars and set the dawn in time
Called them all by name and now You whisper mine
You're my Creator King
Who am I that You are mindful of me? Yeah
Who am I that You sent Your love on me?
You're my Creator King
You who made the darkness and the light
Sun and moon to watch the day and guard the night
The hand that stretched the Heavens like a canopy
Reaches down to cover and watch over me
You're my Creator King
Who am I? Who am I that You are mindful of me?
Who am I that You sent Your love on me?
Who am I that You are mindful of me?
Who am I that You sent Your love on me? Yeah
You're my Creator King, You're my Creator King
You're my Creator King, You're my Creator King
Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of
Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He
and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their five children.
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/drowning-in-a-drop-of-water
No comments:
Post a Comment