“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
After giving up on blogging for awhile, I asked God what I should talk about and the words broken cisterns immediately popped into my head. I didn’t get why at first, but God is so smart. I’m no bible scholar, but I think he was trying to tell me to stop taking my eyes off of him and stop going to people and things for what only he can provide. I realized that in my own life this is a really easy and subtle trap to fall into. Unless you are Jesus, you also can relate to wandering a bit from God’s sufficiency to your own way of trying to do things or have needs met.
I don’t care who you are, life is hard. The world bombards us 24/7 with our physical senses and demands our attention. We have jobs, families, finances, stress, health issues, and just the day to day tasks we perform. It seems so obvious that we should go to God first and for everything, but in the midst of the chaos it doesn’t always happen. We are also surrounded by the expectations of what our lives should be. We are fed messages like: if you can make more money life will be great, or if you can lose weight you will be happy, or if you can meet the right partner you will have security, the list goes on and on. These broken and cracked cisterns come up short every time and we are left with a thirst that is unquenched. To compensate we keep on striving for something else and comparing ourselves to others. It’s a perpetual cycle of wanting more. Things of this world, achievements, relationships, etc. never bring lasting satisfaction. Nothing does. Except one thing…
The one who extends the invitation to us to come and drink from the living waters. He promises they never run dry. We literally have the privilege to have an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. I will never begin to wrap my brain around that. But I do know that I have never experienced anything as deeply satisfying and wonderful as soaking up his word and his presence. It’s the only time I have felt my soul truly come alive. I am glad that through recent trials I am learning all over again that I suck at life the moment I try to hop back into the drivers seat. Instead, I want everything I do to be accomplished by being plugged in to Christ, the true source of everything good. I hope this verse encourages you also to choose the living water that leads to true joy and satisfaction and points back to our real purpose of being on this earth.
