The Well

Jeremiah 2:13 says, "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."¹

Back in Jeremiah's time people used cisterns to catch rainwater. The people lived in an arid land and water was sparse. So when it would rain they caught it and saved it in a cistern. A cistern is kind of like a well but more like a holding tank. Rain water would land on the roofs of their homes and then be channeled into their cisterns for later use. Jeremiah uses this as an analogy for two problems we tend to have. One is that we forsake God and two, that we do our own thing to get our needs met. God desires to meet our needs and wants to be the one we look to in life. Our tendency is to try and figure a way ourselves and not to look to God for help. We do this in a number of ways. For example how often do we use a credit card vs. praying about a material need we have? Or how often do we run to people, things, or pleasure when we are discouraged and depressed rather than to God? When I was younger I would go out and buy things when I was depressed to cheer me up. Or how often to people eat "comfort foods" when they are feeling down? Now buying things or eating food is not wrong, just when they are done as substitutes for turning to God and looking to Him to meet our needs. So the next time you have a need or are down or depressed, don't run to the store or the refrigerator but run to God and drink from His living water. You will find lasting satisfaction that you won't regret.

¹ Jeremiah 2:13, NIV.