Water cycle, hydrologic cycle, vapors ascending, waters above, rain, oceans

THE WATERS ABOVE

Hi everyone!

How are you? I have had a good week working hard at my job at the little zoo and keeping up with everything else. But sometimes I have too much going on and don’t remember what I am doing or what I have done. Like the time I left the water on in the horse trough and there was a lake in the pasture by the time my husband came home a few hours later. Yikes! At least it wasn't a waste because the water did soak in and give my neighbors trees a drink!

But speaking of water…how much do you know (or remember from school) about water? Water is an amazing feature of our world, without it all life would cease on our planet. Did you know the water cycle is mentioned three times in scripture? Psalm 135:7 states “He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(NIV version)” and in the King James Version

it reads “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out

of his treasuries.” Also in Jeremiah 10:13 scripture states “When he

uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.” and again in Jeremiah 51:16 “When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”

Wow! Virtually the same statement mentioned three times in the

Bible. Anytime anything is repeated in scripture we ought to take note, for I believe God is trying to get our attention so we understand the importance of that particular subject. And the hydrologic cycle (the cycle water moves through on earth) is extremely important. “In order to provide rain to water the earth, there must be vapors ascending all over the earth (that is, evaporation from the world’s great oceans), winds then blowing from God’s unseen treasury (which God put into place using global atmospheric circulation), and, finally, lightnings for (or “‘with’) the rain (electrical discharges associated with the condensation and coalescence of

particles of water vapor in the atmosphere). All of this repeatedly transports purified waters from the ocean back over the lands to fall

as rain and snow, there finally to run off back to the oceans after performing their life-sustaining ministries on the lands.”¹ Ecclesiastes 1:7 states this clearly “Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” 

And all of this was written thousands of years before modern scientists began to understand the hydrologic cycle. It seems there are two important factors concerning this; First, ancient man was a lot smarter than modern anthropologists give credit for, and second, all scripture is God -breathed (meaning God dictated the writings) so God not only knew about the hydrologic cycle but created it! The proof is in scripture written thousands of year ago!

The hydrologic cycle is so important that God actually compares His word to it in Isaiah 55 10:11; “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth,…So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please”

Until next time, God bless and take care!

Willow Dressel

This week in the night skies; For the northern lats, “Three doubles under Saturn. Once Saturn has risen well up in the southeast in late evening, examine the little star 2° below it. That's Beta (β) Scorpii, a fine double star for telescopes. Another 1° below that is the very wide naked-eye pair Omega1 and Omega2 Scorpii, nearly vertical and a little too faint for the scene at the top of this page. Binoculars show their slight color difference. Left or lower left of Beta by 1.6° is Nu Scorpii, another fine telescopic double. High power in good seeing reveals Nu's brighter component itself to be a close binary, separation 2 arcseconds.”²

For the southern lats… an Aurora watch alert tonight for the Australia area and tonight and tomorrow for the South American area! This is “due to an anticipated impact from glancing blow from a Coronal Mass Ejection interacting with a coronal hole solar wind stream. This could translate into aurora at any time during the night time of the 17th to early morning 18th.  Aurora, if they flare up tonight, are likely to be seen only in Tasmania (possibly Victoria). Aurora can occur at any time after nightfall (although around midnight or just after seems to be common). Dark sky sites have the best chance of seeing anything, and always allow around 5 minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted.As always look to the south for shifting red/green glows, beams have been reported consistently over the last few aurora and a large green "blob" has been seen.”³

And for everyone…New moon on monday the 18th. This should help for the southern aurora viewers!

References:

¹Institute for Creation Research, Days of Praise, Daily Bible Reading and Devotional Commentaries, March*April*May 2015. Copyright 2015. pg Saturday, May 16.

²http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-may-15-23/