Jeremiah 2:4-13
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
5 This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord.
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.
As an elected official, I have learned more about water in the past few months than I ever thought. I am learning about treatment plants, flood planes, floodways, dredging, drainage, ditch grades, and a whole bunch of other water-related topics. I had the opportunity to visit a cistern on a field trip recently. A massive structure that could hold 15 million gallons of water when filled, they decommissioned it in 2007. The city found a better way to store and process water, so they moved on to that. I think we all think about water; we need it to survive, prepare food, clean ourselves, and clean our places; water is essential to us. Water is vital to the people of the Bible as well.
In By Water and By Spirit
"Water provides the central symbolism for baptism. The richness of its meaning for the Christian community is suggested in the baptismal liturgy, which speaks of the waters of creation and the flood, the liberation of God's people by passage through the sea, the gift of water in the wilderness, and the passage through the Jordan River to the promised land. In baptism, we identify ourselves with this people of God and join the community's journey toward God. The use of water in baptism also symbolizes cleansing from sin, death to old life, and rising to begin new life in Christ. In United Methodist tradition, the water of baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. However it is administered, water should be utilized with enough generosity to enhance our appreciation of its symbolic meanings."
We see a passage about water here in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah the prophet spoke on behalf of God for an incredibly long and anguished number of years, from the time of King Josiah (640 to 609 B.C.) through the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon (586 B.C.) and beyond. Despite tremendous opposition, including plots against him, he persisted in speaking this divine word, which compelled him from within to speak (20:9). Prophets don't always say what you want to hear; they will tell you what you need to hear.
Jeremiah 2-3 reads like a lawsuit, and God has summoned the House of Jacob. The people of God got used to success and left while the getting was good. God led the people through all kinds of disasters, and they still left God.
The chosen people of God have chosen other gods; they shunned God's purposes, even if it meant shunning God's provision. Now whatever provision they have made for themselves ran out. Jeremiah called out everybody, priests, prophets, politicians, and everyday people. There were people in all camps that had turned away. God wants to know, "what did I do wrong that made you all turn away?"
The people went looking for something other than the Almighty, and that, Jeremiah says, is precisely what they have: gods who are no gods. Gods who cannot hear or answer prayer, who cannot save them, now that calamity is upon them, and trouble has come their way. Change and chance can happen to us all, and everything we thought was worth something could be worthless in the blink of an eye.
At the time of the writing, Babylon is either just about to take Israel over or has already done so. When the opposing army tries to take over a city, they cut off communication to other places, they cut off supplies, and they cut off water. The town has no more connection to running water, but that is ok because they still have cisterns with water they saved.
Cisterns were a big part of daily life in the ancient Middle East, this was a desert climate, and there was no such thing as indoor plumbing. A cistern is an underground storage tank that collects runoff from the roof in the rainy season. In the height of summer, the cisterns offered their accumulated supply through many thirsty days. Cistern water didn't taste the best; water from a stream or brook was far preferable—but it could still sustain life.
One attraction of the self-devised cisterns we construct to sustain our lives is that we feel we can control them. We like to control what is around us; even if we aren't in control, we want to feel like we are in control. The people lost their access to moving water, so they depended on the cisterns; the cisterns are going empty and are cracked, and now you need fresh water again.
What is truly an abomination to the Lord? What in our behaviors is an abomination to the Lord? We tend to look for "abomination" in our neighbor's behaviors or foreign behavior. The speck in our neighbor's eye keeps us from seeing the beam in our own. The people thought they could survive and thrive without God and look where it got them.
Remember God's track record
God brought them out of Egypt, God had them cross the sea on dry land, God kept them in the wilderness, made sure they had something to eat, and God brought them into the promised land. God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore and the God that did all of that is the God that is with them in their troubles. God has a track record and proof of performance; if you stick with him, he will provide for your needs.
Return to God
It is never too late to return to God. Call on his name, confess your sins, turn it all over to God, and he will take you back. The text says what God wants us to say, look at what God has done for you. He has done it before and will do it again. You are in the family, God loves you, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Run to the Living Water
Living in an active relationship with the life-giving God of the Scriptures brings obligations: the patient work of worship and prayer, acting compassionately and working for justice. It is when we participate in the redemptive work of God—keeping promises, welcoming strangers, forgiving debts—that we drink from the fountain of the living God and discover a quality of life both sustaining and sustainable.
Jesus at the well with the woman of Samaria
John 4:13-14
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
Be not dismayed whate'er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath his wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
God will take care of you
Through everyday o'er all the way
He will care for you
God will take care of you
Through days of toil when heart doth fail
God will take care of you
When dangers fierce your path assail
God will take care of you
God will take care of you
Through everyday o'er all the way
He will care for you
God will take care of you
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