“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you’” says the Lord, “and against your children’s children I will bring charges. For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate,” says the Lord. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:9-13 (NKJV)
In his very first assignment from God the young prophet Jeremiah is given this strong word for the nation of Judah; God said that He had placed His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and this passage clearly reveals that to be the case.
What had Judah done to anger God, and cause such a chastisement from Jeremiah? As the passage says, they had forsaken God, “the fountain of living waters”, and turned to false gods. Apparently it was unheard of that any nation had ever changed their gods for others, but Judah had deserted the one true God for gods that were not gods at all, in effect leaving a “fountain of living waters” for a hole dug in the sand to catch muddy water. Where once they had but to dip from the purest fountain, now it was a never-ending battle to find even unclean water.
God and Jeremiah are speaking here of relationship and not mere drinking water; Judah has left the God Who loves them for gods who have no abilities at all, who can’t comfort them, or bless them and provide for their needs. This is truly an astonishing thing; how can this be, that a people so loved and watched over by God could desert Him for false gods?
The answer lies in the heart of man; “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Apart from our relationship with God there is no good thing within us, and unless we diligently maintain that relationship we will turn away from the only true God and seek counsel among the false gods of this world.
Let’s drink from the fountain of living waters!
