Cisterns that Can’t Hold Water

Jeremiah 2: 4-13, Psalm 81:10-16

The Lord is angry with the families of Israel. Their ancestors went far from the Lord going after worthless things and due to this became worthless themselves. They forget how God brought them safely to a bountiful land full of good things – yet they defiled it. Not only did the rulers transgress against God – the prophets even turned to Baal – the foreign god and went after things that did not profit.

The Lord tells how the people have exchanged their glory for something that does not profit. God says they have committed two evils. One is forsaking the Lord – the fountain of living water. Two is digging our cisterns (tanks for holding water) for themselves – going their own way but the cisterns they make can hold no water – they leak. Only the living water God gives can satisfy, is worthwhile, and profitable, and doesn’t run out like the false things they make and go after – false gods and worthless things that hold no water.

In Psalm 81God tells them to open their mouths wide so the Lord can fill them. But like God said in Jeremiah, “My people did not hear my voice and wouldn’t submit to me.” So, God of free will gave them over to their stubborn hearts and they followed their own counsel. “Only if they would turn to me,” God laments, “Would listen to me and walk in my ways. I would rescue them from their enemies.”

Instead, of them drinking from leaky cisterns God would feed them with the finest of wheat and honey which like the Lord’s living water would satisfy them. But instead, they fill their lives with worthless things that don’t last – digging cisterns that hold no water.

How many times do we go after things that don’t last? Buying the newest and greatest thing, seeking love and approval in the wrong places – not finding our worth in being a child of God and living the life of love Christ told us to do. What are the cisterns in your life you are building that bring no lasting satisfaction? We need to turn to God and drink from the Lord’s living water, feasting on fine wheat and honey that last. We need to smash any cisterns we build that keep us from the living water of God. Amen.

 

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