“Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 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 cannot hold water.”
– Jeremiah 2:11–13
What an indictment, not just of God’s people in Jeremiah 2, but in our own lives. Two evils. One, we forsake God, the fountain of living water. God is the author of life. God is the supremely good Creator who is able to give us everything we need and everything we want in abundance. He’s the fountain of living waters, the source of true satisfaction.
And yet in our sinfulness, we’re prone to forsake Him and to seek out cisterns for ourselves, broken cisterns that hold no water, that can’t satisfy. We’re so foolish. I am, you are, we’re so prone to look to the things of this world to satisfy us, to pursue our own ways to satisfy us, to think that pleasures and possessions of this world, like that’s where satisfaction is found. Pursuits and plaudits in this world, that’s where satisfaction is found.
We foolishly look to be satisfied by broken cisterns. Let’s pray that God will help us to seek satisfaction only in Him.
Jeremiah 2:11–13 Helps Us See Our Foolishness
God, help us to see they’re broken cisterns, they don’t hold water. Lord, help us to see the foolishness of our ways. God, please keep us from sin in these ways. Please keep us from looking to other things, other people for the satisfaction that is only found, only found in you.
Lord God, you are the fountain of living water. Jesus, you are living water, John 7:37–39. You are a spring that flows up, and we can drink from forever, John 4. You are living water that will never, ever, ever leave us thirsty again, so help us to see you over and above anyone, anything in this world.
This Verse Keeps Us from Running to Emptiness
God, please keep us from going to the empty things of this world. Forgive us for our foolishness and guard us from further foolishness. Lord, help us to seek you as the fountain of living waters, to enjoy you in this way, to delight in you, to drink from the fountain of your Word and your ways and your will for our lives.
Help us to obey you completely, totally, that we might experience your satisfaction completely and totally. We pray for this in our lives today. Lord, help us. Help us to drink from you, obey you, seek you, and keep us from drinking from, seeking after, obeying our own ways, our own thoughts, the ways of this world, thinking they will satisfy when they cannot. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
