SCRIPTURE
For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13)
OBSERVATION
It's tempting to turn from the true God (fountain of living water) and create our own forms of spirituality (dug cisterns). There is a longing in each of us to connect with God. If it's not God, with the big "G" then it is a god, with a little "g." If we don't' connect with the Creator, we may connect with something created.
In the beginning of this chapter, Jeremiah gives a clue to part of the problem that can cause us to pick up the shovel. The fathers and the priests quit asking: Where is the Lord? (2:6,8) When we quit seeking God, quit looking for him in the midst of our everyday lives, we tend to look for him elsewhere. It's tempting to dig our own cisterns and create our own gods because they ask nothing of us in return. Yet, in the time of disaster, trials, suffering, they also cannot deliver, they are empty.
APPLICATION
I need to keep asking: Where is the Lord? It helps me to focus my attention on him, the true living water. It is not a question of doubt but a question of faith. Doubt asks the question, does not expect to find God, and is surprised if it does. On the other hand, faith asks the question, expecting to find God, and is surprised if it doesn't. Seeking God needs to begin when my feet hit the floor every morning. Where is he today? I want to see him and expectantly wait for him to show up. While I'm seeking him I have no thought to pick up a shovel and start digging my own cistern.
PRAYER
Where are you God? Father, I seek you, the living water, today. Reveal yourself in my life.
