Cracked Cisterns

“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.” Jeremiah 2:13 (ESV)

Imagine you were lost in a desert, having had no water for days. Then suddenly, you were offered the option to receive water from a fountain or search for your water by digging your own well. What would you choose?

Of course, anyone with common sense who valued their life would choose the fountain. Why would you work for something when it can be given to you for free? Why choose a method that requires you to draw water when the water is brought to you in the other case?

As obvious as it may be, sometimes this is not the decision we make. The Lord plainly states this through the prophet Jeremiah about Israel.

“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.” Jeremiah 2:13 (ESV)

It was so true then, and this reality can be painfully real in our lives today. It is a false sense of strength. We think we can fulfill ourselves. We opt for the methods we believe will achieve this fulfillment, and all we end up with is a cistern that will inevitably run dry, so we keep filling it. THE MORE WE FILL THE CISTERN WE HAVE HEWN OUT, THE LARGER THE CRACKS GROW. Once this cistern runs dry, we try to hew out a bigger one. This process repeats itself.

The desert analogy may seem unrealistic, but we really do live in a desert. We live in a world that is barren and empty. A world where everyone has their shovel and their pickaxe close by, ready to dig. Everyone is thirsty, but there is only one true source. THERE IS ONLY ONE FAITHFUL SOURCE THAT WILL TRULY QUENCH OUR THIRST. What a beautiful way to describe the love of God! It is a fountain that comes to you, and all you have to do is receive it. God loves us this way because He is fully aware of our weaknesses. We are not even strong enough to draw the waters ourselves, so He brings it to us through a fountain. Amazing that despite this vast weakness in us, we still convince ourselves that we can provide this means of fulfillment our own way.

THERE IS NO STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS, BUT THERE IS STRENGTH IN JESUS. He is our strength, but he cannot be our strength unless we come to Him fully aware of our weakness. Unless we drag ourselves to the fountain, knowing that His love will quench our thirst indefinitely.

TODAY, DROP THE PICKAXE, DROP THE SHOVEL, RUN, WALK, CRAWL TO THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATER, JUST GET THERE. Humble yourself and realize that you are weak and unable to fill yourself. GOD IS WAITING FOR YOU TO COME TO HIM, THIRSTY AND DESPERATELY WANTING HIS LOVE.

Let’s Prayer: 

Jesus, You are my strength. Apart from You, I am nothing. Truly reveal to my heart this truth from Your Word. Help me put my full faith in the truth that You are with me and that You alone are my strength. Forgive me today for using the strength You have given me to hew out cracked cisterns that hold no water, for trying to fulfill myself. Instead, help me use the strength You give me to move myself to Your fountain of living water. Thank you, God, that You offer this fountain, this source that will quench my thirst indefinitely. Amen.