The Singing Lake

Psalm 66:4
“All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name.”

It’s a quiet, cool, overcast morning at the lake. There’s a hint of fog in the air and a fine, lightly falling drizzle. Then you notice the sound. It’s almost a musical note, and it’s coming from the lake. It’s almost as if the lake were singing.

Many people report hearing a lake “sing” when there is a fine drizzle falling. Those who have never heard it are skeptical. However, now science has confirmed that lakes do indeed “sing” in a fine drizzle. Scientists even know what causes it. And in this case, the scientific explanation doesn’t decrease our wonder and awe at this amazing phenomenon.

Canadian scientists placed an underwater microphone at a depth of about 100 feet in a Vancouver Island lake. They placed the microphone almost 1,000 feet from shore so they would be certain not to pick up any sounds from the shore. Then they waited for the weather to change. The scientists eventually recorded the sounds of rain, hail, drizzle and even snow hitting the surface of the lake. Yes, even snow makes a sound when it strikes the water! Their findings show that the fine drops of water in drizzle strike the surface of the lake almost as if they were tiny explosive charges. When they burst on the water, they give off a “ping.” While you’d never hear a few of these droplets “ping,” countless billions of them add their sound together to make the lake literally sing.

Scripture is correct in a literal sense when it tells us that everything in the creation sings praises to its Creator.

Prayer:
Lord, I join the rest of creation in praising You for Your wonderful work. I praise You most of all for taking my sin upon Yourself and carrying it on the cross, into death, so that just as You rose from the dead, I might live, too. Amen.

Notes:
Peterson, Ivars. “The underwater sound of rain.” Science News, v. 129. p. 4.