Water: The Super Dissolver

Look in your fridge for a carton of juice and read the list of ingredients. The first ingredient will probably be water! Now look at the ingredients on a can of soda. Water is first again! If you look at a bottle of window cleaner or dish soap, there too the first ingredient will be—you guessed it—water! Why is that?

Because God designed water to be a super dissolver! In fact, scientists call water a “universal solvent” because it can dissolve more things than any other kind of natural liquid. Even some metals, rocks, and plastics will break down in water given enough time.

Have you ever traveled somewhere and noticed that the water tastes different from the tap water at home? That’s because when water passes through different types of rocks or pipes, it dissolves tiny bits of minerals into the water, making the water taste different. If your house has a water softener, your tap water will have fewer of those dissolved minerals in it.

There are some really good things about water being able to dissolve so many things. If it didn’t, things like Febreze and Coca-Cola wouldn’t exist! Even more importantly, our bodies wouldn’t work right. Your body is about 60% water. God created you in this way because tears, stomach acid, blood, sweat, and urine are all made with water. Water dissolves salts, acids, and toxins so that your body can use them or get rid of them. This is why we have to make sure we drink lots of water. Water helps our bodies to work properly.

Because water is part of our sinful, broken world, its ability to break down or dissolve certain things can sometimes cause problems. When water mixes with toxins, such as sulfur dioxide or mercury, we get dangerous pollution. Sulfur dioxide goes into the air, mixes with water droplets, and creates acid rain. Mercury that runs into lake water harms the fish. Particles of plastic and metal that water has broken down get into our drinking water. All of these examples are a good reminder to be so very careful of what we put into our rivers, lakes, and sewers. Whatever we pour down the drain, throw in the lake, or even toss on the side of the road will be dissolved by water and eventually be consumed by wildlife—or even us!

God created water so that it can dissolve many things. We can thank God for the wonderful gift of water as a super dissolver by taking care of it!

And maybe the next time you have to do the dishes, you can just leave them in a sink full of water and tell your caregiver that you’re simply using God’s gift of water, the super dissolver, to get them clean!