Consider Jeremiah 2:12-13:
Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils:
- they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,
- and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
God uses stark terms that Israel, a people living in an arid climate, would understand. It would be insane to abandon a precious fountain of fresh water and laboriously make broken cisterns that can’t even hold water, much less provide it.
We should also be absolutely floored at such willing stupidity. Why would God’s people abandon God (who had given them freedom, land, water, prosperity, and safety) and choose false gods instead? False gods who could give them nothing at all, nor protect what they had been given by God.
It’s the same for us. As a church living in an arid climate, would we disconnect our building from our well then connect the pipes to a pile of sand and assume everything will be fine? We’d never do that, but are we tempted to create a backup plan to our dependence on God? Do we, like Israel in Jeremiah’s day, assume the blessings of God but look away from God and to something else to meet our deepest needs? But God is not in the business of being part of giving you life, part of your joy, part of your obedience, part of your trust. If you don’t want God to give you everything eventually he’ll give you nothing, except the consequences of your actions. God will not let you give his glory to things you make. As he said, “my glory will I not give to another.”
The call to us remains the same almost 3,000 years later. Look to God to meet all of your need for life and joy.
John 7:37–38: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”