Gardening the Soul: The Father Waters His Garden, 1

The Living Water

Jeremiah was appalled that his people had abandoned the only dependable source of life:

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. (Jer.2:13)

Israel was (and is) a drought-prone land. As a result, cisterns were critical to people's survival. These dug out reservoirs were filled during the rainy season so that life-sustaining water would be available for people and plants during the six-month dry season.

Now suppose a land-owning Israelite had been blessed with a spring that gushed pure water for decades. However, he decided to ignore that spring and dig a cistern so he could drink parceled-out, stagnant rainwater instead. Furthermore, while digging the cistern, it formed a crack so that it always dried up during the summer drought. An incredulous Jeremiah explained that God's people had turned from the Living Water to unreliable, run-off rainwater. They had bartered the eternal, all-powerful God for non-gods.

As Cathy and I approached our 20th wedding anniversary, we received an unexpected gift of money that we used to finance a week of vacation to the Bahamas. It was our first trip to the sparkling, turquoise waters of the Caribbean. While it was icy winter in South Dakota, we joyously swam and snorkeled and talked and loved as we celebrated the our God-blessed life together. One day at lunch we met a couple who spent about half of every year traveling. They had been to more places than the Travel Channel: India, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong, Alaska. As they described these exotic places, we noticed a lack of passion—their adventures apparently provided fewer thrills than the Swine flu! Had travel always been so uninspiring? I doubt it. Initially it seemed to quench their thirst. Slowly, though, the water was seeping from this cracked cistern. Eventually it provided no refreshment for their souls--only habit and the memory of past draughts kept them dipping in this waterless well.

Like every garden, every person must have a dependable source of water--something to make them come fully alive. This couple had invested their hopes in travel. But they had, as Jeremiah explained, pursued worthlessness, and things that do not profit. They were withering in a full-scale drought because they were drinking from damaged, dry cisterns. Cathy and I traveled to celebrate life. This couple traveled to find life.