I don’t know about you, but I love science. I’m sad to admit that some Christians have the wrong idea about science. God told Adam to BE a scientist when He gave him the job of naming all the animals in Genesis 2:20.
The problem isn’t with science it’s when science tries to be something it was never created to be. God has given us dominion over the earth. With that dominion comes a requirement to know about the earth.
Think about a king with his kingdom. If he doesn’t know what he has, how can he govern it and be a good steward over it?
The same happens with this earth.
Our Text
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
Psalm 104:9 KJV
Today, we are talking about the flood waters that once covered the earth.
The verses previous to this verse make it clear that the psalmist is talking about the flood waters that God used to flood the earth in Genesis. (Check out verses 5-8 for yourself.)
Have you ever wondered where they all went? Logic would dictate that the water that is currently on the earth can’t be all the water that covered the earth, or the earth would still be under water.
So where did all that water go??
In Psalm 104:9 we get a glimpse into the answer to this question, but first let’s take a side note.
When I read this I was reminded of something I learned in high school.
Many times we are taught things as if they are FACT in school when really much of what we are taught in science is simply the best working theory that scientists can come up with from the current evidence they see.
What am I trying to say? Science only knows what it can observe and has observed so far. That doesn’t make science bad it simply means that science changes, but God’s Word never changes!
In school we are taught that the earth has only metal swirling in an extremely hot mixture that creates the earth’s magnetic field, but as we will see that might not be the only thing down in the earth’s core.
God “Set a Bound”
So I read this verse and noticed that God said He “set a bound”. He setup a place where the waters that once covered the earth would and could never again flood the earth.
That’s exactly what He said He would do here in Genesis 9 talking to Noah about the flood that just covered the earth and killed everyone and everything but his family.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 9:11 KJV
But how did God do that? Well to answer that we might want to look at how the flood happened in the first place.
Where did the water come from?
I’ve heard a lot of different stories and theories about how the flood waters covered the earth. Some believe that water rested above the earth’s atmosphere.
They use this verse in Genesis 1 saying…
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
Genesis 1:7 KJV
The firmament split the waters above and below the land
The word firmament is kind of a weird word that isn’t used much today so I’ll go ahead and define it.
the heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing.
“thunder shakes the firmament”
Firmament (Oxford Language Dictionary)
So this verse tells us that there was water above and below the sky, but was that enough water to completely cover all the mountains?
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Genesis 7:11 KJV
This word “the great deep” in the Hebrew is the word Tehom (Strong’s 8415). It means deep, sea, abyss.
So not only did the waters above the earth open up. The waters below the earth broke open and came out over the face of the earth.
Where did the water go?
But then what happened after the flood? Well it makes sense that the water would return to where it came from – under the earth
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Genesis 8:2 KJV
What is this barrier?
God clearly states in Genesis 9:11 that it would never flood again. And that is why we see Psalm 104:9 tells us there is a barrier that keeps the waters from returning to cover the earth.
The Science Stuff
Now again remember that science isn’t always accurate, and I am not a scientist. So some of what these scientists think might be right whereas other things might not be. The whole point of this post isn’t the science – although it’s interesting.
I want you to see that though the science didn’t agree with this verse for a long time it wasn’t the verse that changed, but rather the science as new information came to light.
After I read psalms I started to think about the earth’s interior. Like I said the things you’re told in school is just what they think right then, but it’s not necessarily the truth. I remember reading about the earth and what makes up the core. They say the earth’s core is made up of two molten metals that swirl together and cause the magnetic field of the earth.
You have to realize that we can’t actually observe what the core is made of. We can only theorize based upon a few seismic readings and some magnetic fields, but in 2014 after discovering some rock they called ringwoodite that came up from the earth’s interior with a volcanic eruption. Scientists now believe that part of the earth’s core has a large reservoir of water.
This water isn’t like the water up close to the surface. It’s really hot and combined with a bunch of metals that make it virtually impossible to return to the surface of the earth because it has now been weighted down by the metal it’s bonded with.
Kind of sounds like a boundary to me.
Food for thought
How many things do we as Christians believe to be true because of the Bible that scientists telling us – can’t be right?
If Covid-19 and all these other things are any indication of how the world is going, remember the “follow the science people” are really just saying listen to what man is trying to tell you not what God is telling you.
The truth is that science is not the enemy, but when science starts to contradict what the Bible explicitly says then it’s science that is wrong not the Bible.
If you would have asked a scientist before 2014 if there was a large reservoir of water in the earth’s core, they would have told you no. But just because it’s not within their capacity to see something doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
So regardless of if the water is bound up under the earth in rock called ringwoodite or if scientists have it wrong and it’s someplace else. That doesn’t matter.
God’s Word is true.
One day when we stand in heaven and see all the power and authority that we as believers have here on earth and fully understanding the truth of what it is Christ has given us, I don’t want to have regrets that I didn’t take God at his Word.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV
When we get to heaven these mysteries and much more will be revealed. Does it really matter where the water went? No it doesn’t, but it does matter that we take God at His Word and believe what He tells us.
Don’t let people tell you that you’re crazy just because you believe what the Bible says about your healing, finances or anything else that the Bible says that seems impossible.
God’s Word is true (“Change” your Strength when you Wait upon the Lord).
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