Jeremiah 2:12-13
Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
This morning, reading this passage from Jeremiah made me realize that the Israelites, and God's people throughout the centuries have always struggled with maintaining God as their only joy and delight. They have always struggled with going after gods that are no gods. Seeking after and thirsting after those things that will never satisfy. Drinking deep from the wells of the foreign gods, but never being satisfied with the taste, yet not returning back to the One who satisfies.
These verses here tell of something horrible. A horrible crime that occured which should cause those who hear it to drop their jaws, and stand in shock. God tells Jeremiah here that this thing that was done by His people should make the heavens be appalled. This is the feeling of utter and absolute disgust. The heavens, all the host of God, all the angels, seraphim and cherubim, should writhe with disgust.
The reason for this shock and disgust is that God's people, the ones that He poured love, grace and mercy upon for thousands of years have committed two great crimes:
- Forsaken God, the one who holds living water
- Created their own wells, ones that cannot hold water
However, as God points out here, He is the only one that can satisfy. When one's soul thirsts after something, that thirst is the thirst for God. God puts that thirst in every single human that exists, and mostly we spend our lives trying to drink anything and everything that is not God that will not satisfy this thirst.
The psalmist got is right in Psalm 42:1-2:
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
So, people attempt to drink of everything that won't satisfy. God here tells them that the things that they have made to produce this water that satisfies will not satisfy at all, in fact, these things don't even hold water. So the really sick thing, is that people try and try to find something to fill the emptiness inside. They try entertainment, marriage, sex, drugs, music, food, friends, possessions. But none of these can satisfy, all of these are just empty wells. If they do produce anything to drink, it is like sawdust, which will only make matters worse. The emptiness grows and grows, until it consumes them.
So, my soul, these words are not for "they", but for you. What are you drinking from? Are you drinking from the well of living water, the Living God Himself, or are you drinking from dry and broken wells. Oh soul, there is only one well to drink from. Here the words of Christ from John 4:13-14:
"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Oh Lord Jesus, please give me the desire and ability to drink from the well of Christ. Let me drink from the Water that will always satisfy, Jesus Christ. Let me love, adore, thirst, and seek you like there is nothing else in this world that matters. Let me long for you. Let me love you. Let me have a passion for you. Forgive my sins of making wells that won't hold water. Forgive me oh God, through Jesus Christ's personal sacrifice, for relying on the things of this world. Forgive me for longing after the things that are in this world. Forgive me for trying to drink of anything but Jesus Christ. Make my soul thirsty for you. In the name of Jesus Christ, my eternal Savior and God, amen.
1 comment:
amen....let me not desire to drink, O Lord, from broken wells with putrified water. Help me desire to drink deeply from the Living Water and to offer the same to others.
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