The Broken Cistern

None of us have to look too long or hard to find someone or something wanting to zap our energy, enthusiasm, and excitement. How about that crazy neighbor or annoying co-worker, they just always seem to know what buttons to push. Or maybe that nagging ache in your foot, from a broken toe years ago that never healed correctly. Being a caregiver for someone. An ongoing health issue that keeps you from living the life you once lived. It could be that you have bounced from one relationship to another, all of them ended poorly, and you begin to wonder if “Mr. Right” is even out there. Every time you take your car to the garage for routine maintenance the mechanic tells you that major service is needed on your engine. Let’s be real – life is a grind.  

Regardless of what it is that zaps your energy, enthusiasm and excitement, it is true that for most of us, we most often try to find our contentment from external circumstances rather than an inner attitude. In a nutshell, we look to the world for contentment rather than drawing it from God. 

A verse in Jeremiah speaks to this very thing. It talks of where we draw our water from. In Jeremiah 2:13 we read these words, “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.”

Let me give some context for that verse. Water was a rare luxury in ancient days, and water from an underground spring, a never-ending source, was to be cherished. On the other hand, cisterns only hold rainwater. At best, they store stagnant water; and at worst, they are cracked and the water seeps back into the ground. So, the verse we just looked at tells us that the nation of Judah rejected God, they looked away from the “spring of living water” and by doing so they looked elsewhere for water (life), as this verse says, “they dug their own cisterns.” 

Isn’t that also true of us? We often look to a broken and leaky cistern to meet our daily needs, or in other words, to find sustenance, to find life. And if that one doesn’t work, we look for another broken and leaky cistern. And when that cistern runs dry, we move to the next one, on and on.

While the verse speaks of where to look for all that we need, it is also a verse that speaks of trust. It asks, “Do you trust God or look to the world to provide for all your needs?”

The next time someone or something threatens to steal your contentment, right then and there you have a choice – you can choose to draw from God’s well of living water or you can choose to draw from those other sources, those broken cisterns that have dirty water and so often run dry. When you find yourself in need of a drink, say, “Jesus, you are my source of living water and right now in this situation I come to You, asking You to fill me up,” allowing Him to quiet your spirit and calm your heart.

Read John 4:1-26 for an encounter Jesus has with a Samaritan woman at a well. This is his longest recorded conversation with one person in the New Testament. A religious teacher hanging out with a woman of dubious reputation, highly questionable (4:27). And a Jew talking to a Samaritan, also forbidden (4:7-9). Jesus crossed all kinds of boundaries to meet with this woman. He does the same for you and me today!

Remember, broken cisterns cannot hold water, they eventually run dry, so, today, draw from the spring of living water. Then repeat tomorrow, the next day, and every day after that!

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