another plumber???

Have you ever tried to hire a good plumber? I must be honest and say that I have never had the need to, but I have heard some horror stories. It seems like one plumber just can't do the job correctly, you usually have to hire a few of them to really get something fixed. This means two or three bills, two or three exposures of some man's butt crack (this is where the real stress and trauma occurs), etc. I know this is extremely stereotypical, but it's something that we can all relate with, or at least most of us. It's a situation that down right sucks. You put a lot into it, but it never seems to work. This is especially true for old plumbing, it constantly leaks no matter how many times you fix it. You're probably wandering where I'm going with this. I speak about plumbers because of a text that has wrecked me lately from Jeremiah 2. I just can't get over it.

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no
water.
Jeremiah 2:13

I realized that I have spent my whole life employing plumbers to fix my cisterns that can never hold any water. The cisterns in this passage refer to the things that we turn to for fulfillment instead of God. Idols that we worship instead of the living God. This isn't the part that really convicted me though. I always knew this. I knew from Romans that we are broken and all have fallen short, so I knew that I had committed this evil. It was the first one that really got me. Of course, this was a bit confusing because I thought I had known that too. However, I realized that I have been trying to use counsel from others and even Scripture and Jesus to fix my cisterns, instead of turning to the abundant stream of joy that is God himself. I wanted Jesus to fix what I thought would satisfy me, instead of looking to him for real, fulfilling joy. There is no plumber that will fix our cisterns. They will always leak, if not pour. Turn to the fountain of living water. After all a stream flows freely and doesn't take energy to partake of. It takes a lot of effort and personal expense to fix cisterns, even if you're not the one doing the work.