The Lord speaks through Jeremiah of Jerusalem's first love. "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride" β And what does God mean by this? Back during the Exodus β and the conquest in the days of Joshua β when God redeemed his people and gave them a good inheritance.
But Jerusalem has exchanged the LORD her God for those who are no gods.
And so the LORD concludes: "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."
That's a great picture! Over here, there is a fountain of living water (living water can just mean "flowing water" β a spring that never runs dry). And over there, is a cistern β a cistern is an underground water storage tank.
If you don't trust that the spring will last, then you might choose to dig a cistern to store water.
But of course, if the LORD himself is the fountain of living water β then you know that the LORD will never run dry. And so the decision to dig a cistern is itself a declaration of unbelief!
"I don't trust God to provide β so I'd better take care of myself, thank you!"
Isn't that a good picture of how we tend to act? We don't trust God. We rely on our own efforts β our own wisdom β our own bright ideas β but our own best efforts are broken cisterns that can hold no water.
In short β we have lost our first love β our devotion to our Lord Jesus!
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