‘“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”’ Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV).
God chastised the Israelites for choosing a cistern, a pit that collected rainwater, over a sparkling spring of water. That is, the Israelites had turned from their God, the spring of living water, to the worship of idols. Furthermore, the cisterns they had chosen, were broken and empty. Their cisterns, or idols that they used to seek the truth, were broken, worthless and full of unfulfilled promises.
God promises to constantly refresh us with Himself, the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9) and the spring of living water (Jeremiah 17:13). We are encouraged throughout Scripture to thirst for this living water and yet we cling to the false promises of broken cisterns. What are the broken cisterns in our life just now?
Perhaps they are money, power, religious systems, or relationships that are transitory and can never fulfil us in the way that God can. God promises to refresh us with Himself, the spring of living water, as Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:10. Then when we have God as first place in our life, we will never be thirsty again.
Psalm 42:1 says, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.’ As the life of a deer depends upon water, so too our lives as His children depend upon God. Those who seek Him and long to know Him will find a never-ending spring of water that wells up inside of us into eternal life.
*Prayer:*
‘Heavenly Father, forgive me for those broken cisterns with which I have tried to attain life and fulfilment from. They are nothing in comparison to you Lord. Help me to trust you alone.’
In Jesus’ Mighty Name,
AMEN!
*Final Thoughts:*
The Psalmist thirsted for God more than anything else, because he knew that his life depended upon it. Do we thirst for God most? Let’s consider the broken cisterns that may be a poor substitute for our relationship with God and determine to renounce whatever keeps us from Him.
Be Greatly Blessed!
