Living Water

“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and have hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
(Jeremiah 2:13)

It’s hard to miss the power of Jeremiah’s words, particularly when addressed to people living in a part of the world where water is scarce and its presence means life or death. The people of Jeremiah’s day would surely understand the link between forsaking the Lord, broken cisterns and the lack of water such cisterns bring about.

I’ve spent a good deal of time meditating on this passage over the past week. As a result, I’ve come to see that his words are quite applicable to us in our day, even though all we need to do is turn on the closest faucet for an endless supply of water. Here’s what I mean.

Jeremiah described two evils. He used the imagery of water to make his point. Their first evil was that of forsaking the Lord, the fountain of living water. Their second evil was seeking to quench their thirst from other sources, sources that were broken and held no water.

Now I think we’d all agree that forsaking the Lord inevitably leads to the pursuit of other things, broken things. So it’s clear that forsaking the Lord is the first step toward the pursuit of broken things. In that light, the word “forsake” is interesting. It means to neglect, abandon or to let go of something. Hence, as soon as we neglect, abandon or let go of the Lord, we start hewing out other cisterns. 

All of this leads me to ask a penetrating question. Is there any degree to which you are seeking to quench your thirst from a source other than the living water found only in the Lord? In other words, from what source are you finding your contentment, joy and satisfaction? If it is something other than the Lord, beware. The inevitable next step is that you will start to carve out substitute sources of satisfaction, broken sources that can never satisfy your deepest thirst. 

I see this process at work all the time. I speak with people almost daily who are in the midst of seeking joy in broken cisterns that “hold no water.” The result is that they are constantly thirsty, always seeking to quench their thirst with things that serve to make them even more thirsty. At that point, the cycle of thirst and broken cisterns becomes endless.

The only way to avoid being constantly thirsty is to constantly drink from the living water of Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” There is never a shortage of living water when the source is Christ!