Buckets with holes in them

“For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

– Jeremiah 2:13

In the book of Jeremiah we find that God’s people have forsaken the Lord and have began to follow other, so-called, gods.  One of the primary gods that they served was Baal, which was a god of fertility, or a sex god.  We may look at the people of those days as primitive for worshiping many different gods, but, really, people do exactly the same thing today.  Each of the gods was really just an excuse to do what they wanted to do.  You can see why the ‘sex god’ was so popular.  People now make up their own idea of what or who God is (or if there is a god) to basically fit the way they want to live their lives.  Same thing.

But look at the illustration that God uses in this bible passage to show us what they have done.  He says that they have, “forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and hewn for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  Or we can say it like this: “They are trading in the spring of fresh, never-ending water, for a bucket with holes in it.”  What a lousy trade!

This is such a great illustration of life today.  The bucket represents people going about doing things their own way.  They think that doing things their own way will make them happy.  And it will for a little time.  But just like a bucket with holes their life will begin to run dry and they will not be fulfilled. They will try to fill their bucket with something else, but, alas, the same thing will happen again.  And again. And again.  And again.

But not with God.  A true relationship with God will fulfill you and keep you fulfilled forever.  It’s like a spring of fresh water that never ends.  It fills you up and then, like David says in Psalm 23, overflows out of your cup.  It’s like Jesus said in John 4:14: “I shall give you living water that will become in you a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Oh, the joys of serving the Lord!  There is nothing better!

The bible says, “taste the Lord and see that He is good!”

Give up your buckets with holes in them and return to the Lord.  Forget the past.  Forget the church people, or the preachers that offended you or who were hypocrites in you eyes.  Jesus didn’t say to follow them. Jesus said, “Follow me.”

If you do follow Him you will experience the fountains of living waters that will never leave you dry.