“How is the water, Christian?”

Jeremiah 2:1-13

When a man such as Jeremiah stands and proclaims “Thus says the Lord.”

One would think a person would stop and give thought to what is being said.  My reason for including the text in full is to give you and me one more opportunity to do just that.  To the best of my understanding, this letter was written to Judah and Israel, and they did not listen.  But the Word of God is living, and the message has to mean any nation that is chasing after other gods; and yes, God makes it clear there are not any, He alone is Sovereign. 

My heart cries out, Father we are such people, we have chased the little gods of this world, like sex, materials, you know stuff like the precious things many have in storage, and sports, careers, and so much more.  We who claim to be Your followers have not listened to the Scriptures such as in 1 John 2:17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  Yes, Father, all that stuff, good stuff, stuff we do not have room for, but it’s too good to give to someone who has need of it.  It seems we have no understanding that you have said it is all going to rust, rot, or burn up and yet a wise person will invest in people and your word, for they will last forever.

David Foster Wallace was not a believer, but in his book “This is Water” He asked, and I believe he is searching for an answer.  One question is; “How do we remove ourselves from the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion?”  The book begins with this: “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys.  How’s the water?”  And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”  I believe that was the people Jeremiah was trying to understand, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  Yes, without water the fish would not live, and yet they had no understanding of its value.  I’m fearful that is the story of many who go by the title of Christian, they do not grasp that Jesus said to the women at the well; “But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again--ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life." (John 4:14)  So let me copy Wallace’s statement with one or two changes; “How is the water, Christian?”

“The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.  Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.  All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’
And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things.  But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

“Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your children's children, I will contend.  For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.  Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?  But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.  Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 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.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice