Everyone is on the lookout for something. Some of us spend our entire life seeking to fill the God-shaped void in our hearts. We try to fill it with money, success, respect, independence, and pleasure, but we wind up emptying it more than we started. God has desired his people to worship him since the beginning of time. However, as flawed people, we tend to give our love and adoration to other things.
So, in the book of Jeremiah, we find God saying, “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.” Jeremiah 2:13.
In ancient Israel, there were three preferable sources of water. Flowing water from a spring or stream was the best source. The second most preferred source was a well. Finally, runoff water from a cistern was the least preferred source of water. A cistern was a limestone rock pit that was walled with plaster to keep rainwater from seeping out. In Jeremiah 2:13, God declares the Israelites had committed two sins. They had forsaken him and dug out broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Imagine a thirsty person in a dry land who ignores a flowing spring of cool water in favor of hacking out a cistern in the scorching sun, hoping to collect rainwater! The image of “broken cisterns” illustrated Israel’s foolishness. It was intended as a reproach to those who had abandoned their faith in God. This verse can apply to today’s church. Broken cisterns are the evil desires that we crave more than God. Our hearts constantly crave things, and we will see why we drink from broken cisterns.
Why Do We Drink From Broken Cisterns?
Today’s Christians are doing the same thing as the people of Judah. We are so used to the Living Water until we’ve ventured away from the Fountain in pursuit of more ‘thirst-quenching water.’ We have made the mistake of constructing our broken cisterns. We spend more time thinking of prospering on earth than our eternity in heaven.
How much time do we spend on social media, watching Netflix, or engaging in other leisure activities? What about other issues like porn, masturbation, alcoholism, and drug abuse? Some Christians spend more time on their screens but very little (if any) time reading the Bible.
Are these things more enjoyable than God’s Word? We have walked away from God, the Living Water, to these cravings promising us false satisfaction. Life pressures can overwhelm even a follower of Christ. But why do we run to our broken cisterns instead of God? Is it that God doesn’t understand us?
In Hebrews 4:15, we see that, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” So Christ understands our struggles because he was tempted as we are. We always run to our broken cisterns because of fear, anxiety, and impatience. We believe God doesn’t understand our situations or is slow to act, so we desire immediate results.
We also believe that our broken cisterns will comfort and satisfy us. But in the end, we turn these desires and cravings into idols and incur God’s wrath. So let’s look at the consequences of drinking from broken cisterns to understand why God wants us to return to Him.
Consequences of Drinking from Broken Cisterns
The consequences of turning our desires into idols are tragic. The significant result would be to incur the wrath of God in our lives.
So what is the Wrath of God?
The wrath of God is where God gives us over to our sin. In Hebrews 18:24-25, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
So when God gives us over to our sins, our hearts become hardened. We continue in our sins without the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Pharaoh’s Example
In Exodus 9:12, we read, “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.”
So when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, does it mean that God caused the hardening?
No. Pharaoh made a broken cistern of rebellion, and God gave him over to his sin. Every action incurs an equal and opposite reaction. So rebellion hardened Pharaoh’s heart and incurred God’s wrath.
We all know about the 10 Plagues of Egypt and how the Egyptians suffered God’s wrath.
Sin’s deceitfulness causes us to drink from these broken cisterns for years without even knowing it. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t convict us, we’ll die in our sins and incur God’s judgment.
Another consequence is that we live in fear and anxiety of God’s wrath and judgment.
But our God is full of mercy and grace. He gives us more chances to repent and turn back to Him as long as we are alive.
How to Turn Away From our Broken Cisterns and Back to the Living Water
God is merciful and gracious. He gave the Israelites many opportunities to turn back to Him. And so, even for us, His mercies are renewed every day. As long as we are alive, we can have a renewed relationship with God.
So we turn to God by:
Repentance
In 1 John 1:9, we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
When we acknowledge our sins and repent, he will forgive us and set us free. All we need is to be sincere and seek his forgiveness.
Moreover, the Spirit of God convicts us of our sins and helps us turn away from them.
Trust in God
When we trust in God and believe that He is in control, Matthew 6:25-27 becomes real in our lives. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?”
Jesus uses logic to explain that we are much more important to God than the birds. He also questions if, by worrying, we can add an hour to our lives.
So when we believe God is in control, we’ll trust that all things will work together for our good. Trusting in God yields peace and satisfaction in our hearts when going through challenges.
God is after our hearts to turn us from our broken cisterns. He knows that if our hearts are changed, then everything about our lives changes.
So, before we run to our broken cisterns, we should ask ourselves questions like these:
- What does God’s Word say about this situation?
- Is it worth indulging in this sin and grieve the Holy Spirit?
- Will this desire matter in five years?
If we want to overcome, then logic should be our best friend.
The Holy Spirit will also help us realize the truth and turn to God instead of the broken cisterns. When faced with temptations or life challenges, the more we ask ourselves these questions, the more victorious we become.
Conclusion
In 1 Corinthians 10:13, we see that “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
So God cannot allow us to go through challenges we cannot handle. He understands our limits, and he always opens a way for us to overcome them.
God logically understands our issues and situations. So when we go through life’s challenges, we should run to God, the Fountain of Living Water. He gives us true satisfaction, relief, and joy.
If we have turned away from God and drank in our broken cisterns, we have a chance of returning to Him. Christ died for that very reason.
May God help us overcome our broken cisterns and run to Him—the Living Water.
What broken cistern/s is God asking you to turn away from right NOW?
Are you convinced that there is an area in your life where you have turned away from God and dug your own cisterns, but, are not sure exactly what they are or how to discover them?
Do you feel the need to dissect your own heart for unnoticeable evil and deceiving desires, but you are not sure how?
If the answer is “yes” to any one of the above questions, then feel free to reach out to me for Biblical counseling! I will walk with you and with the help of God’s Word and Spirit, will help you discover the true reason behind your struggles with sin and lead you on the path of lasting change and victory!
CLICK HERE to book your online session now!
By: Angelo Shamoon
Published on June 2021