JUNE 21: A Broken Cistern (2:1-13)
“They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
SUMMARY: Our spiritual adultery with God is more serious than we care to admit. From God’s perspective, we are attempting to drink water out of a broken cistern which can never satisfy. Meanwhile, we are neglecting the True Fountain of Living Water. God wants us back.
DISCUSSION: Verses 2-3 begin with an affirmation of God’s remembrance of us. What do verses 5-8 teach us about the relationship between idolatry and our remembrance of God? What are some ways that you have forgotten God or his past mercies to you? What habits or practices can remind you of who God is and what he has done? In verses 9-11 we learn that “[God’s] people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols” (2:11). Do you find God glorious? When have you experienced the glory and beauty of God in your life? How did it affect you? Are there things in your life that you find more beautiful than God? Verse 13 says that God is “the spring of living water” (2:13). Where do you find yourself returning to when you are “spiritually thirsty”? What habits or practices keep you close to the Holy Spirit, the eternally satisfying spring (Jn 4:14)?
PRAYER: Glorious God, forgive us for when we have exchanged your life-giving presence for worthless idols that do not satisfy. Renew in us the devotion of our youth, that we may drink deeply of your Holy Spirit and find eternal satisfaction in you. Amen.
PRACTICE: Attune your soul to the presence and work of God in your life by practicing the daily examen. Ask God everyday to reveal any idols in your heart to which you have turned for false comfort and to give you a renewed sense of satisfaction in him.
