Two major rivers, the Platte and the Colorado, have their headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park. There are 147 lakes and 421 miles of streams in this mountainous area. Winter snow usually measures around 40 plus inches at the Bear Lake region, much more at higher altitudes, closing roads from October until June. Thunderstorms are common from late spring through summer. When warm air reaches the mountains it rises rapidly and cools. Because cool air holds less water the moisture condenses resulting in rain. Westerly winds reaching the mountains release up to 40 inches of moisture a year, whereas the eastern plains receive 15 inches or less.
Water in the form of floods, avalanches, and glaciers is continually changing the landscape, causing landslides, moving rocks and boulders, creating waterfalls, lakes, ponds and wetlands. Glaciers create U-shaped valleys with lateral moraines on the sides and a terminal moraine at the end. Lakes without an inlet or outlet, like Bear and Dream Lakes, are formed from glacial melt and are called Kettle lakes. Water carves V-shaped valleys. Lack of water makes shallow lakes, ponds and wetlands disappear, affecting plants that control erosion and resulting in danger of fire.
Psalm 147:1,8,16-18 It is good to sing praise to our God; it is pleasant and right to praise Him. He spreads clouds over the sky; He provides rain for the earth…He spreads snow like a blanket and scatters frost like dust. He gives a command, and the ice melts; he sends the wind, and the water flows.
In Isaiah 55 water is compared to God’s Word. “ Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Drink freely without cost. Why spend (time and) money on things that do not satisfy. Listen carefully to Me and delight yourself in what is good. (1,2) For the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth and making seeds to sprout and providing food. It is the same way with My Word. I send it out and it will do everything I send it to do. You will live in joy and peace. Even the mountains, the hills, and the trees will burst out with shouts of joy. (10-12)”
In Isaiah 35 we see the symbolism of the dry desert wasteland being restored into fertile fields in the same ways that a lives that are weak, tired, discouraged, and afraid will be rescued and set free. “Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the desert… springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land… For those who walk in God’s ways sorrow and mourning will disappear and they will be overcome with joy and gladness.
Isaiah 58:11 (When you love and serve others) you will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.
John 4:13,14 Jesus said to the woman, “Those who drink the water in this well will get thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”
John 7:37-38 Jesus stood and shouted to the crowd, “If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in Me, come and drink. For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.” When He said living water He was speaking of the Spirit. But the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.
Our spiritual thirst can only be satisfied by the one who provides Living Water.
When we see water in the form of snow it reminds us of God’s cleansing forgiveness.
Psalm 51:1,7 Be merciful to me, O God, because of your constant love, because of your great mercy wipe away my sins! Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
When we look at the clouds it helps remember that God appeared in a pillar of cloud to guide the Israelites in the wilderness, that He spoke from a cloud declaring Jesus as His beloved Son, and that when Jesus ascended into heaven a cloud hid him from the sight of the disciples.
In Matthew 24:30 Jesus refers to His second coming. “All the people of earth will…see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The great trumpet will sound, and He will send out His angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather His chosen people from one end of the world to the other.
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