Broken Cisterns
Devotions for Growing Christians
Jeremiah 2:13 - “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me - the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
In biblical times, a cistern was an artificial reservoir carved into the earth or rock to collect and store water. Given Israel’s long dry season and lack of natural springs, storing winter rain in cisterns was essential. Fresh water was extremely valuable, so a broken cistern was practically useless. Cracked rock or crumbling masonry could only hold a small amount of dirty water—or maybe none at all. Using a broken cistern to collect water was as practical as using a sieve for a canteen!
The prophet Jeremiah used the illustration of “broken cisterns” to show the foolishness of God’s people, Israel. This wasn’t just an illustration Jeremiah came up with on his own; the Lord Himself used this image when speaking to His people through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:1-2 & 4-5). The message served as a rebuke to those who had turned away from full devotion to God, and this message still applies to believers today.
To understand the full significance of the “broken cistern” illustration, let’s look at the historical context of Jeremiah 2:13. At the time, the people of Judah (the southern part of Israel) had turned away from God to follow their own ways. They were no longer devoted to the Lord or relying on Him to meet their spiritual needs. In Jeremiah 2, we see that they had created their own “cisterns” of idolatry and immorality, hoping that the pleasures of sin could satisfy their desires.
Not surprisingly, the people of Judah found that these self-made cisterns were broken. These cisterns didn’t break after holding water for a while. They never held any water! They were broken from the day they were built, and could never satisfy the people’s spiritual thirst. This is always true of the schemes we create to find spiritual fulfillment apart from the Lord. Only God Himself can truly quench our spiritual thirst. (See Isaiah 55:1-2, John 4:10-14, John 6:35, and John 7:37-38.)
When the foolish people of Judah turned away from the Lord, they were guilty of two evils. Constructing an artificial spiritual reservoir was bad enough, but rejecting water from the life-giving Spring was tragic! Imagine a person dying of thirst in a dry land, ignoring a cool, bubbling spring of water and instead trying to carve out a cistern to collect rainwater under the scorching sun!
Without a natural spring nearby, a cistern would be the best alternative. If you were unaware of a nearby spring, at least you could be pitied for your diligent efforts to try to collect some water. But if you knew the spring was there and deliberately chose to turn away from it, that would be incredibly foolish.
God used this image to show His people how utterly foolish they were when they turned away from Him. The surrounding heathen nations could at least be pitied when they ignorantly followed lifeless gods that couldn’t meet their spiritual thirst. And unlike Judah, these pagan nations were loyal to their gods (v10-11). The people of Judah deliberately turned away from what they knew was their Source of Living Water. The heavens were called on to be appalled and "shudder with great horror" at such foolishness, such stupidity, and such evil (v12).
Is it possible that some Christians today are guilty of this same thing? Have we become so accustomed to the Living Water that we've wandered away from the Fountain to search for tasty water elsewhere? Have we foolishly built our own cisterns?
What about our pursuits of a successful career? What about the time we spend on our social media or Netflix? Some believers spend enormous amounts of time looking at their screens, but they spend little (if any) time reading Scripture. Why? Have these things become more interesting than God's Word? If we’re turning away from the Living Word to satisfy our thirst with something else, we may be guilty of the same sin as Judah.
Let’s apply this message to our own nation. This country was founded on the idea of being a “nation under God.” While there was always a separation between church and state, the idea of separating God from the state was never intended. God was recognized as sovereign over both the state and the church, as the source of all blessings.
Today, however, secularism has infiltrated our nation. God has been excluded from the public sphere and confined to the private realm of the Church. His sovereignty over the state is rejected, and many question or even oppose the very existence of God. Our nation has turned from the Fountain of Living Waters to the cisterns of secular humanism. These self-made cisterns of “freedom from God” are a defiant slap in His face.
Our nation not only allows, but condones, these broken cisterns that deny God and the teaching of the Bible. Lapping the stagnant, muddy waters of these cisterns not only fails to quench spiritual thirst, it leads ultimately to the poison of dehumanization. Consider the murky waters of evolution, for example, compared to the biblical teaching of mankind’s noble beginnings, created in the image of God! Look at the disillusionment and heartbreak of shattered marriages and broken families that result from drinking at the humanistic cistern of sexual freedom.
God gave the nation of Judah many chances to return, but they refused. In terms of the illustration, verse 18 indicates that instead of returning to God, they turned to the river waters of the Nile and the Euphrates. In other words, they looked to the gods and governments of Egypt and Assyria for protection and provision.
As a result, the Lord declared that His people would reap what they had sown (v19). Judah was conquered and taken away into exile in Babylon, along the Euphrates River, where they drank the bitter waters they had chosen. The survivors who were left in Israel ran away to Egypt, against the explicit counsel of the Lord through Jeremiah. There they died by the waters of the River Nile (Jeremiah 42-44).
The consequences of turning away from God are just as serious and sure today as they were 2,500 years ago. Why not avoid all the struggle and desperate thirst? Why not drink forever at the Fountain of Living Waters!
- Dave Reid
(Updated 2021, Ron Reid)