Broken Cistern

“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13

When I have fallen away from God, I commit these same two sins. It looks different usually but the underlying issue has been the same. I let other things compromise my time with God and then I end up forsaking God, leaving Him behind or abandoning my walk with Him. He is faithful to wait on me like the father of the prodigal waited and ran to him when the prodigal returned. But God never forces a relationship and intimacy. I make the choice to stay planted by the living water or be deceived by what I think offers me more advantage, what looks like higher ground, or greener grass.

In these times, I try to do things my own way, having my own cistern. My cistern will always be a broken cistern because I can’t contain the living water in my own ability. The living water flows only from Jesus Christ. It is ever moving and available only in the now. God’s power, grace, strength and mercy are not available for storing. He is the Hod of now. His cistern is built in faith, not of human works. His faith empowers us to trust the living water will be what we need, when we need it, and work even if it doesn’t look like we think it will work.

I like to think I know this and that I’ve grown and don’t do this anymore. While I don’t blatantly decide to walk away from God like I did in my teen years, I still let other things, even good things that honor God, get before my relationship with Him. My service can’t come before my intimacy with Him. My family can’t come before my intimacy with Him. Church can’t be a substitute for intimacy with Him. My service can’t come before intimacy with Him. These are good things, but nothing can come before my personal relationship with God. I can’t let anything come before Him in my life. I also have to surrender to His plans and purpose for me. I have to obey and submit to His ways. Only then can the living waters flow in my life and can I contain the living waters God has planned for my life.

Lord, thank you for revealing that even though I’m not where I used to be, I still have to be intentional to keep you first and walk in faith surrendered to your word and your will.