Newsletter January 2021 Part 3
Living Water
“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)
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God calls His people to return to Him. He expresses His indignation at the fact that they have turned from Him, the source of life, and instead have put their trust in powerless idols. He compares these false gods with broken cisterns: man-made structures designed to hold water, which have been cracked and therefore cannot serve the very purpose for which they were made.
The nation of Judah had submitted themselves under the rule of Assyria and had consequently exchanged the worship of the LORD for that of the idols of Assyria. Rather than trust in the true God who had delivered their fathers from the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah, this generation had accommodated themselves with their oppressors and adopted their ways. Rather than worship the Creator of the universe who had delivered their ancestors from Egyptian bondage and revealed Himself to them at Mount Sinai, they were, just like the ignorant nations around them, making themselves gods of wood, stone and metal that possess neither life nor power. (Jer. 10:1-5)
What about us? We too live in a world that does not know God. Don’t we too so often follow the example of those around us, those who place their trust in their own resources and abilities, not recognising that everything comes from God? Do we really, as we profess, depend on the Almighty, the source of all life, to meet our needs? Do we look to Him to sustain us, or to things that can never satisfy? Do we build our lives, our careers and even our churches on God’s unshakeable promise or on unstable foundations that we ourselves have laid? Where does our sense of security and self-worth come from? Is it from the fact that God loves us and has accepted us as His children? Or do we depend on the recognition we may or may not receive from other people?
God loves us and cares for us. Everything we need is found in Him. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38) When we put our trust in God and His Spirit rules our hearts, we will be secure in every circumstance. He will take care of us, and His life will emanate from us to others.
Our world is currently being shaken in ways that we could never have imagined. Things we have depended on are no longer there. Circumstances are changing at a rate and pace that make it impossible to plan ahead. Yet we do not have to fear, for we know the One who holds the future. Nothing comes as a surprise to the Eternal One. Those who trust in the sovereign Lord find that He orders their steps. He delights in the way of those who are led by His Spirit. Though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds them with His hand. (Psalm 37:23-24).
Let us look to God and depend entirely on Him. Let us drink from the fountain of living water. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25) As we do so, others will see His presence in our lives and will turn to Him.
Pastor Konrad