DRIEST PLACE ON EARTH
Bible Study / Daily Devotional
Daily Devotions
Average reading time is about 6 minutes
AN AMAZING FACT: We’ve all heard about a person’s “dry sense of humor” or a “dry and boring sermon” (of course, not at my church!), but what is the driest place on Earth? The Valley of the Moon (Valle de la Luna) in Chile probably qualifies as one of the greatest places of an extreme lack of moisture. Some areas of this desert have not received a single drop of rain in hundreds of years.


Located in the Atacama Desert of Chile, this strange land area has various stone and sand formations carved by wind and water. It actually has quite a variety of color, but most of it looks strangely like the surface of the moon. (Interestingly, the moon is one million times drier than the infamous Gobi Desert!) The Valley of the Moon has many dry lake beds with salt giving a white covering layer in many areas. It was declared a Nature Sanctuary in 1982 for its great natural beauty and strange lunar landscape. Scientists actually tested a prototype of a Mars rover in the valley. People actually enjoy traveling to visit this valley. Photographers capture its breathtaking views at dusk or in moonlight.

The Valley of the Moon is part of the greater Atacama Desert, which is known to be one of the harshest and driest regions on Earth. The whole desert area is located on the leeward side of the Chilean Coast Range, so very little water from the Pacific Ocean reaches the desert. The high Andes Mountains also block clouds which might bring rain from the Amazon Basin. The average rainfall in this area is 0.04 inches per year. Some weather stations in Atacama have never received rain. The Atacama is also the location of the 2010 Copiapo Mining Accident which trapped 33 miners 2,300 feet underground. They were successfully rescued after 69 days.

God’s blessing on His people is compared to water on dry ground and on thirsty people. “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring” (Isaiah 44:3). Jesus fulfilled this promise when He came as the Water of Life. If you find your life dry and boring, it is time to ask for the drenching of God’s Spirit on your heart.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; Psalms 63:1

MARVELING AT GOD THROUGH NATURE
Bible Study / Daily Devotional
Average reading time is about 4 and a half minutes
AN AMAZING FACT: The driest place on Earth is the Atacama Desert near the Pacific coastline of Chile. The average rainfall in these desert mountains is less than .004 inches per year. There are even some locations within the desert where no rain has fallen for more than 400 years. Yet even in this arid wasteland, there is some water. There are some salt lakes throughout the region, and in some elevations, where the temperature never exceeds freezing, snow still remains from previous storms.
Without the Earth’s constant cycle of evaporation and rainfall, life as we know it could not exist. The natural rain cycles keep land and plants irrigated, constantly recycle water around the world, and bring precipitation to even the driest lands. It is amazing to think that the diverse and extensive balance of life on Earth, including human life, is totally dependent upon rainfall, which is beyond mankind’s ability to control.

God’s people know that rain does not happen by accident. God is the creator of nature, and He is in charge of executing its natural and physical laws. When water comes to even the driest places on Earth, God’s people see Him at work. When Job declares that God “gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields” (Job 5:10), he cites this as an example of how God “does great things, and unsearchable, Marvelous things without number” (Job 5:9).

When we behold the wonders of nature, even the rain, we can easily see the majesty of God. God loves His creation, and He takes care of it. We should be confident that God will take the same care of His children too.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45