In Jeremiah 2, God brought charges against Israel.
9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. There were going to be long-term consequences. He said in verses 10 and 11 that pagan nations were faithful to their false gods, but those who had been led by the One, True Living God, who knew Who He was and what He would and did do, they weren’t faithful to Him. In other words, the pagans were better at commitment than the people of God. In verse 11, the second half, God says, “My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. 13 “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.”
The image here is one that Israel would have understood. God chose water because it is essential. We need it every day, and we need a lot of it. Without it, life cannot be sustained. God was drawing a picture for them, helping them see that they had forsaken what they needed, what would sustain them, for broken pursuits and systems that could never offer real security or satisfaction or spiritual well-being.
They had “dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” God didn’t say, “You turned to something that worked for a while, and then it broke.” He didn’t say, “You had a good run on your own, but now you are in trouble.” No, He said, “What you got involved in was broken to begin with. Those cisterns that you spent time and effort to dig, never held any water. They never had what you needed.” He wasn’t talking about cisterns that just wore out over time or cracked because of some catastrophic or unfortunate event. No. He said, “What you went to when you abandoned Me was broken from the start.”
This is true of every idol, every worldly way, every self-guided effort. It will be broken from the start.
Allow me to suggest some broken cisterns, some broken wells we, as a society, and perhaps as individuals, have turned to instead of God.
- New Age religions that relegate God to Karma or an impersonal force are false gods that have duped many into believing they are spiritually OK.
- The false gods of comfort like drugs, alcohol and food
- The false gods of technology and social media
- The false gods of celebrities and sports figures
- The false gods of TV shows/Netflix, Hulu and other on-demand entertainment
- The false gods Sex and sexual perversions
- The false god of Science (There is nothing wrong with Science, with facts, with understanding the world around us. We can and need to learn through Science. There are times, however, when Science is wrong because of the human error involved, and if Science contradicts Scripture, it’s wrong, every time wrong. You can find a Scientific article to support whatever your viewpoint on just about anything is. My confidence will never ultimately be in Science, but in the Creator who has made all things and knows how they are to function.)
I could list other things that have the potential to become an idol like money, physical fitness, work and more, but for time’s sake I’ll stop with what I have developed. The problem with broken cisterns is that they will lead to spiritual dehydration and when you become spiritually dehydrated, every other part of your life suffers. Just like when we are physically dehydrated we open ourselves to a host of complications like having muscle cramps, heat stroke, complications with our electrolytes which can lead to seizures, low blood volume shock, kidney failure, a coma and even death, spiritual dehydration will create complication after complication in our lives.
Picture God standing by a stream of Living Water, inviting you to take all of the water you need, pure water, healing water, water that will satisfy you, fortify you and sustain you spiritually and in every other way you need it. It’s water that won’t run out or ever be contaminated, but instead of taking His offer you turn to Him and say, “No thanks, I’ll just keep digging. I’ll just keep trying to create my own well here.” And God replies, “But aren’t your shoulders hurting? Aren’t your hands blistered? Isn’t your back breaking? Aren’t you exhausted? Aren’t you thirsty?” and you reply, “Yeah, but I’m gonna keep digging.” That’s insane, right?
Foundational to living well is looking to the Living Water of Jesus Christ above all as our Source. When we look to broken cisterns, we are trying to find what we think we need, but when we look to Christ, we will receive all we truly need and more.
Jesus said in John 4:14, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Jesus said we don’t have to look to external things to satisfy us. He will fill us from the inside. The things we have talked about might give us a momentary feeling of satisfaction or accomplishment like one glass of water, but it will never be enough to truly meet our needs. Jesus described a spring of water that wells up to eternal life, a spring of water that has no end to it. John reiterated this message in John 7:37-38 where Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
You can keep digging if you want to, looking for something to keep you going, something to give your life meaning and purpose, something to get you from one moment to the next or you can start receiving what Jesus has said is available. Living Water isn’t exhausting to come by. It’s simply received.
One added benefit of this Living Water is that it is something you will be able to share with others. Those broken cisterns, those broken wells, are things people look to, to catch and consume water for themselves. However, Living Water is meant to be received and shared. Broken cisterns leave you tired and broken. Living Water will leave you refreshed and ready to help others find the same Source for abundant life.
Broken Wells or Living Water? What makes the difference? Living Water, Jesus. Take a drink today.
