Where Do You Get Your Water?

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.

Jeremiah was sent to the people of Israel starting as a young man and he preached the Word of God to the people his whole adult life. The people had turned away from God and trusted in idols. God gave the people rich blessings and yet they forgot God – the fountain of living waters. We have the privilege of life-giving water through Christ Jesus (John 4:13, John 7:38-39). Do we seek it?

In the mountains of Tennessee and West Virginia, there are springs of fresh water. If you camping in these mountains you want to find these springs to sustain you for a period of time. But if you do not find those springs you may have to make do with pools of stagnant, muddy water that may cause disease. Christ offers clear, life-giving water. Do you choose the pure water of life or the muddy water of the world?

Rev 7:17  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will  guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

John 4:14  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal  life.”

Satan offers you pools of muddy water and makes them to appear to be enjoyable. But when you peel back the cover, you find the dirty water of sin. 

Jeremiah 2:8  The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

Satan deceives us with empty words like, “you’re not hurting anyone else” or, “it’s not that bad.” By the time you see the results of your sin, it can be too late for those whose lives you influenced along the way. 

Ephesians 5:5-6  For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure,  or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and  God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

False prophets preached to the people in the days of Jeremiah, they preached in the time of Christ, and they preach today (2 Peter 2:1). The water that flows from their springs tend to separate instead of unify people. Those muddy waters tend to blur our vision because we think things are going well when we are headed in the wrong direction (Revelation 3:17). It’s a wonderful thing to be a Christian but it is a challenge to work, grow, and strengthen ourselves in the ways of the Lord (1 Corinthians 12:13). 

There were two sins that Jeremiah contended with. First was forsaking the life-giving water of God. The second was relying on broken vessels. Where do you get your water?

Revelation 22:17  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.”  And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without  price.