Our Broken Cisterns

When I was in Israel a year ago, I had the privilege of visiting an old Crusader castle. It was set right

into a cliff, hanging out over the ocean. As I toured around I got the glimpse of a cistern. It wasn't what I had expected while reading the bible. It was like a well built above ground It was smashed on the side and falling apart as you would expect. Then it hit me, broken cisterns. This is what God was talking about in [Jeremiah 2:13]

“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. "

Israel committed two sins.

First, they forsake God the SPRING of LIVING WATER. Let's talk about a spring for a second.

spring

1.     to rise, leap, move, or act suddenly and swiftly, as by a sudden dart or thrust forward or outward, or being suddenly released from a coiled or constrained position: to spring into the air; a tiger about to spring.
   
2.     to be released from a constrained position, as by resilient or elastic force or from the action of a spring: A trap springs. The door sprang open and in he walked.
   
3.     to issue forth suddenly, as water, blood, sparks, fire, etc. (often followed by forth, out, or up): Blood sprang from the wound.
   
4.     to come into being, rise, or arise within a short time (usually followed by up): Industries sprang up in the suburbs.
   
5.     to come into being by growth, as from a seed or germ, bulb, root, etc.; grow, as plants.
   
6.     to proceed or originate from a specific source or cause.
   
7.     to have as one's birth or lineage; be descended, as from a person, family, stock, etc.; come from: to spring from ancient aristocracy.

The root word "spring" basically means to come forth suddenly. The noun is defined as:

an issue of water from the earth, taking the form, on the surface, of a small stream or standing as a pool or small lake.

I'm not sure if you have ever seen a spring up close and personal but when I was about 9 years old I was "camping" (I use quotations because in reality we were homeless) in the national forest around Chiloquin, Oregon. At one point we camped at the headwaters of a river. It was a spring. Water literally bubbled up out of the ground with force. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I remember sticking my hand inside one of the springs to try and feel around. I didn't do it again because I was fairly certain I was going to get sucked in by some kind of swamp thing.

The water sprang up from the ground and formed a river. Here is something that not a lot of people know. The term "living water" is usually in reference to a river or a creek or some kind of moving water. Defined as:

Moving water, as in a stream or river, as opposed to water in a pond or pool.

The reason its called living water is in contrast to still water. Or dead water:

still water without any current.
Why? Because when water is stagnate it causes things to grow in it. Usually making the water undrinkable.  However, if the water is moving it becomes difficult for things to grow in, bacteria for example. Making fresh spring water or "living water" desirable over any other kind of water.

So, basically Israel forsakes God's moving, living, healthy, life sustaining water... for what? Man-made cisterns:

a reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.
They gave up an endless supply of fresh water to build their own cisterns to put water in. What? What the heck are you going to put in those cisterns? Are you going to fill it up with water from God's spring? No, because they forsook that thing... so where does the water come from? Even if you could find your own water supply then you have to fill it... and it becomes stagnate and dead. THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE! I mean really think about how ridicules this sounds (which is kinda God's point). But then he goes on to say that the cisterns are broken! They don't even hold water! They must have sucked at building cisterns. Or rather, if we took this for the metaphor that God is implying we suck at making our own gods.

 Let me take this to a more practical example of today. We don't really have to deal with the draw backs of cisterns these days (at least we pretend not to). Instead lets look at relationships. There are only two options for someone to make a choice like the one God's implying. First is being completely and utterly stupid. An excuse we'd like to use, no doubt. Or being utterly full of pride. We have to do it ourselves. We need to be self dependent. We don't need God. Like porn is better than a healthy marriage cause we don't have to commit to the other person. Like our being alone is better than a healthy friendship. 'Cause it's easier. Like every time we do something in our own strength or for our owns reasons other than God's because we either think He's taking too long, He ain't going to do what we want, or we've figured out something better.

But here's the kicker. The one planted right in our teeth. God says:

"What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me?"

 [Jeremiah 2:5]

 It isn't just that we're choosing something over God. It's that we think SO POORLY of His plans, His designs, Him, that we give up on Him. He isn't good enough! So we've got to do this thing ourselves. His plan isn't what I want, so I'm going to do it my way. The woman/man God has picked out for me AIN'T WORTH WAITING FOR. The friends in my life AIN'T WORTH DYING OVER. The Mission He has for me AIN'T WORTH THE CROSS.

Man, if we could just get it in our heads. He is Good enough. He works ALL things together for our Good [Romans 8:28]. Trust him that the living water is going to sustain us so much longer and better than whatever we can work out for ourselves. Maybe we'd stop running into marriages and relationships that just fall apart. Maybe we'd stop ruining friendships and relationships with our leaders an pastors and submit to the process that God is trying to use to clean our act up. If we could just trust that the man or women that God is making us to be is worth being! That is everything we've ever wanted. That God isn't just setting us aside to get glory from our misery but to get glory from our perfection made possible through Christ Jesus.