THIRSTY???? (Who's foot is in your puddle?)

I am dumbstruck by the words God spoke through Jeremiah to the Israelites in Jeremiah 2:13.

"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."

Ah, yes. The perfect picture of our rebellion. God offers us living, refreshing, renewing water for our very souls and we pugnaciously decide to dig a filthy, dirty pit to collect our own water. As if our water could quench the eternal thirst of our souls!!!!

The Israelites were doing their thing again...worshipping idols. That, in itself, was an empty and barren endeavor. They thought that building temples of beauty and strict rules to guide their lives brought them closer to the truth. Really, those hull-like containers they thought were filled with the truth, were worthless...because they collected only worldly water and not the true water of life.

John 4: 13-14 describes Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well.

"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water [from the well], will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

When we step away from the well, when we take it upon ourselves to drink of other waters (such as; idolatry or even self-righteousness), we risk, not simply losing our focus on and relationship with the Lord, but a full scale attack from the enemy.

Alone, without the water of life prophylactically coursing through our veins, satan, that old horned and warty toad, hops into our self-made puddles (cisterns). Once his foot is in, mud is immediately produced.
Our thinking suddenly becomes cloudy. Our hearts begin to develop barnacles. We begin to notice the humanness of humanity without God-produced love in our hearts. Suddenly each freckle and dimple is cause for offense. Suddenly people are dissatisfying and rude. Suddenly the faces of those we once loved are ugly.

We are so easily fooled by the lure of becoming god-like ourselves, aren't we? Adam and Eve certainly started this trend. And, make no mistake, whenever we choose to drink of our own water, we are in rebellion. Rebellion really is just another word for making ourselves gods. Leaky gods, but gods nonetheless.

If you have a thirst for TRUTH and LOVE, consider the water flowing from God's pure heart. If you desire God's best for you, His love, His mercy and His protection, drink from His proffered cup. If you desire freedom from the horned toad making mudpies in your heart, take a refreshing shower in the pure spring of LIFE---Jesus Christ!

c 2009 M. LaPointe