By Shirley Rosemarie Evans
For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.
Jeremiah 2:13 LSB
Living in the North of England with frequent rainfall and state-of-the-art plumbing in every home I can’t really say that I have any great experiences of not having water in abundance. The notion of drought is limited to bygone summers where rainfall declines and hose-pipe bans were put in place.
Cisterns were well known in Bible times. But today the word “cistern” is all but lost in our vocabulary. We can still find the word in the dictionary, and we still have cisterns at some of our farms that are located in isolated areas.
A cistern can be described as an underground receptacle for collecting rainwater. This rainwater is collected from the runoff from roofs or through drains. In Bible times, people who had cisterns in their homes usually dug them in their enclosed courtyard. This protected the cistern and its precious water from outsiders. A stone or wooden cover placed over the opening would keep the cistern clean until the rains came.
Cisterns are often referred to symbolically, or figuratively, in God’s Word. It was used to illustrate the unfaithfulness of God’s people. They had turned away from Yahweh the one true God and were serving false deities. In the passage from Jeremiah, God says that His people had rejected Him the fountain of living waters, and instead choosing cisterns that could hold no water. The thing about fountains is that the water flow is continuous and limitless. This is God - He is never exhausted, and there is always more than enough for everyone. His power is limitless, His grace is sufficient, and His love is perfect and unchanging. But instead of trusting in God the source of all things they had dug cisterns which are man-made and limited and prone to break.
A cistern has a maximum capacity and is prone to leak. How often, do we place everything on something only to be disappointed? The relationship we fully invest in, neglecting our time of worship, or fellowship with the saints only for it to end and leave us bereft. Or perhaps we are chasing that promotion we work all the overtime, and attend all the social events at the expense of our ministry and missions only to be overlooked yet again and the promotion goes to someone else. Whatever it maybe, we are distracted and we lose focus so that we as in the message to the church in Ephesus have lost our first love.
Christ is, “the fountain of living waters” that will never go dry, He supplies every need, that is His promise to us and so it must be so. May we never be tempted to dig cisterns but may we continually drink from the one true source so that we may be truly satisfied as he alone quenches our thirst.
Ask: What does God mean by broken cisterns?
Seek: Reflect on your own life are there areas of your life where you are guilty of depending on broken cisterns?
Knock: Offer a prayer to God thanking Him for being the fountain of living water, and for His ability to satisfy every need.
(Upper Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash)
