How God sees things - Living Water
“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).
How God sees things - Living Water
God loves his children and he sees them that way, as his children, children he created and called very good. And so when he looks upon them he's looking at them from the perspective of The Father, the holy God, the immortal parent. In the prophet Jeremiah's message chapter two, The Lord paints a picture for his children to see their relationship with him in their minds and hopefully take to heart their sins reflected in the metaphor.
So, there are two reflections; first they've turned away from Him, they've forsaken him, and second they're digging up trouble for themselves by trying to replace Him with man-made vessels that literally can't hold water. As a whole they've sinned by rejecting the spring of living water and creating false idols that aren't gods at all. They're living by their own efforts to satisfy the deep spiritual longings of their particular lifestyle. In short, they're continually braking the first and greatest of commandments (laws). And their efforts are failing, it's a broken hope, it can't hold things together because it's forever leaking.
Why are they doing this? How did they get here?
For sure you can count on human beings to do one thing by nature above all else. They'll doubt, they'll question, they won't trust the answers, even if someone should raise from the dead. They have what C. S. Lewis called, “incommunicable and unappeasable want.”
(Luke 16:30-31) “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
It's not entirely sinful to seek spiritual satisfaction, God created us in his image and put these natures into us. Not so we should sin, but so we might seek Him and cultivate a relationship walking with him. God could have created us like the wildlife, indifferent to spiritual matters. He could have created automatons not like him at all, empty headed consumption husks eating, sleeping, rinse and repeat. And at times it seems like many have become like this. But truth be told even the weakest link in the human food chain is a child of God's creation and capable of knowing Him. Many have missed the promise train, they've missed his power and therefore they lack his strength to overcome.
People look for joy, intimacy, peace, prosperity, comfort, and satisfaction. They want things their way, and when they feel powerless to get these desires met they do whatever it takes to store up what treasures they can and hold on to that cistern even if it's broken down. It's like drinking smelly, stagnant, diseased water at the bottom of a broken cistern. And it's unfortunate because it's susceptible to poisonous infiltration by bacteria, mold, toxins and other pollutants bleeding into the cistern from the ground around it. It can never be strong enough to resist the sinful infections that forever come at human beings by their very nature.
So now we know what's broke in our natures. Accept it or not, it's who we are. And likewise we can know what's right and good by understanding God's nature. He showed his nature in Jesus Christ. God in human form. Given to bring sight to the blind, strength to the weak, life to the dead, freedom to the prisoners, (Isaiah 61:1-11). The Father can be seen and his nature understood in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son. And what do we know? We know that God loves us and wants our lives to be fulfilling. That is why Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). God is not holding back on us. He is not trying to frustrate our God-given inclinations and desires; he is trying to show us how to meet those needs in the best possible way.
God created in us those needs, he made provisions to meet those needs, and he blessed his children called them very good. And "in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). That is our living water hope. No brokenness can prevent it and no broken down cistern can hold on to it without the strength and power found in the person of Jesus Christ.
Many people are busy digging cisterns. Piling up possessions and seeking pleasures, ignoring the stream of living water right next to them. And from time to time when the voice of guilt breaks in (the devilish accusers counsel) they dip into the stagnant water and sprinkle some man made approval upon whatever they're into. They treat, entertain, and amuse themselves, playing the absurd human games rather than listening in the silence for God's voice calling them. And in this modern age the people have gotten so lost and broken, dumbed down, that they're living vicariously through others by voyeuristically following after others and their ridiculous viral broken down cistern behaviors.
It's all rebellion. We're digging cisterns of our own inventions. We may be ruining our lives, but at least no one is telling us what to do — including God. Jesus commented on this, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14) Jesus is saying no matter what significance we find in our inventions and intentions, they will always fail to fulfill the promises we seek in them. We will ultimately end up alienated, cut off from the crowd of approval. We'll end up broken, disappointed, and disillusioned. It's inevitable because it's stagnant, dead water. No life. Jesus on the other hand is offering everlasting life, living water, springs bubbling up and overflowing. Jesus is saying to us all, take those sinful desires and toss them into your cisterns and bury them there. Fill it in, maybe plant a garden on top of it, and walk away into the light of the living water. Live to please God, not people. Reach his fullness.
Friends,
Consider carefully the cost of living for God, but consider also the cost of a life wasted without God. Pray today for your revelation in Jesus Christ. Take hold of the One who offers the living water.
God bless you and keep you now and forever.
Amen.