Lessons from Jeremiah (2)

“Two Sins”

“My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cistern, broken that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

The people of Israel were in a terrible situation. God was trying to get them to realize the gravity of their sins. All the sins that they had committed could be boiled down to just two: They forsook God and tried to do it their own way.

“Forsake” is defined as “to give up or leave entirely”, the synonym is the word “abandon”. The people of Israel had abandoned their God. They didn’t even understand all that they had given up. God compared their forsaking as someone who left a river with flowing water and then dug their own cisterns. By definition a “cistern” is an “artificial reservoir or tank for storing water usually underground”.

The people had given up the natural flow of a river and focused on the artificial reservoir. It gave them a false sense of security that they were able to rely on their own supply rather than on God’s provision.

We need to be careful that we don’t the same thing and sin against God by first forsaking Him and then devising our own plans, relying on our human strength. God is patient and loving but there are things He will not tolerate and these are two of them.

Ask the Lord to show you the cisterns you have dug in your own strength. Then ask for forgiveness and cover those human made cisterns and begin rely on God.