Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, February 2, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God’s living water gives us new life. That’s the whole theme of the VBS program I just wrote for Clergy Stuff. Living water is a complex concept—it’s mentioned all over the Bible (as the rest of this week’s devotions will explore) without a specific definition. It’s one of those beautiful, divine mysteries that invites us to dive ever deeper into God’s word and our relationship to God.
God’s living water sustains us in ways far beyond quenching physical thirst. It is our ultimate spiritual source, without which life is empty and meaningless. Jeremiah scolded the people for seeking after human sources of satisfaction—digging out their own cisterns. And, of course, it doesn’t work. The things we create for ourselves, our attempts to control people, places, and situations, will never fulfill us in the way God’s living water does.
Jeremiah is calling us back to the source that will never run dry, so that we might flourish beyond our limited imagining.
How am I trying to dig out my own cisterns instead of turning to God’s living water for all my needs?