The Story of WaterSample

Water at the Beginning

Water is one of those ordinary things that reveals extraordinary truths. In the Bible, water often points to three important ideas about God: His love, His sovereignty (in other words, His “in-charge-ness”), and His life-giving power.

We hear a splash of His love in the second verse of the Bible, which tells us the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. One of the few times the word hovering is used in the Bible is in Deuteronomy, describing the way a mama bird hovers over her babies, encouraging them to fly for the first time. It's a word of affection, protection, and nearness.

We hear a splash of His sovereignty too: God spoke the waters into existence, and from then on, the waters have never stepped outside of God’s command. The book of Job teaches us that God tells the waves where to stop.

Soon enough, through the Bible’s pages, we hear splashes of God’s life-giving power. He creates humans, but when they step outside of His command, their physical and spiritual thirst is plain. Will they look to the One who gives life, or will they go elsewhere to quench their thirst?

By the sixth chapter, God saw that people’s hearts were soaked with wickedness. In grief, God let the waters loose. This was not a friendly flood—it was judgment brought by deathly water. And yet amid the smothering horror, a small hope appeared: an ark floating on the waters. As a kindness to the fear-stricken family entombed within its walls, God painted the sky in a way He’d never done before: with a rainbow. It was His promise to the earth: Don’t forget—I tell the water what to do. And I won’t tell it destroy you in this way again.

We’ve all experienced storms that struck fear in our hearts, reminded us that we are not in control, that we are smaller than we ever dared believe. In these moments when rains bang heavily on windows, may we remember God’s love, His sovereignty, and His life-giving power.

As Noah’s family repopulated the earth, most notably through Abraham, a new nation was formed: the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. Through them, God promised to redeem the earth, but this time it wouldn't be with “death water.” He would send Living Water.