Back to the Well
The Lord never allows His people to wander away from Him without calling them back. In turn, the Lord never calls us back without telling us where we went wrong. He doesn’t leave us cold without telling us how to make the wrong right. Jeremiah 2:13 reads, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
God tells His people that they have left Him, the Fountain of Living Waters. The children of Israel were being nourished by the fresh spring-fed well from God’s reservoir of mercy. Something happened; evidently feasting on the blessings of God was not satisfying for the people. It must be noted here that to be satisfied from God’s supply we must be hungry for His supply. The Lord will only quench the thirst of the thirsty. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).
Since the people were not being satisfied, they sought to alleviate their problem by making their own cisterns. The people in West Texas would know more about cisterns than we would in Houston. Cisterns were constructed to catch the rainwater in those old days when water was scarce. Now, spiritually speaking, here’s the problem with the building of our own cisterns rather than tapping the resource of God’s well.
1. We make the cistern.
It seems like fallen man has the opposite of the Midas touch; whatever we touch doesn’t turn to gold but rather to gloom. God knows we cannot supply our own need, so He says He will. He knows we don’t have the strength, so He says He’ll be our strength. How sad to leave the abundance of God’s well and decide to “make it on our own.” It would be like someone who could afford a new car for transportation to work, but would insist on making his own soap box derby to fight the Houston traffic. Closer to the principle involved, it would be like someone who could tap into a city water supply or a fresh water well in their back yard, but would insist on taking trips to Lake Houston, bringing the water home, and boiling it for use.
2. 2. Our cisterns will leak.
We will never be satisfied with man-made blessings and the simulated blessings we capture will only be temporary. God’s answer is to come back to the well! Why? Because:
· Well water from a spring is moving water. Cistern water left to sit without circulation can become stagnant. One of the best methods for water purification is to keep the water moving. Our lives in turn will stay pure as we drink from God’s well.
· Well water allows for proper priorities. In the old days especially, people never invested time and money in building a house then decided to look for water. On the contrary, they found where the well could tap into the underground river, then built the house nearby. Today, many people go to college, get married, have children, then say, “Hey! Where’s the water?” Find the water first, then build the home. This is God’s way. Proverbs 3:6 reads, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
- Pastor Pope -