Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Aug 13 2019 - Jeremiah 2:1-22, 32 – Broken cisterns

A number of years ago, my wife went to the wedding of a work colleague who, along with her husband to be, were both Christians, though many others attending the wedding were not. One of the hymns they chose for the wedding included the memorable verse:

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
  But, ah, the waters failed!
E’en as I stooped to drink they fled,
  And mocked me as I wailed.

My wife wondered what on earth her non-Christian colleagues made of these very strange words!

The picture expressed in that hymn comes from today's passage. Jeremiah 2:13 reads:

My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

A "cistern" was a hole constructed to hold water, whether dug in the open ground or fashioned from an underground cavern. In dry countries such as Judah they would be used to collect water during the wet season and to store it for use during a dry season. Cracked or broken cisterns that could not hold water were useless and life-threatening. Through Jeremiah, God accuses his people of a double folly; they have turned their back on the Lord who is the source of life-giving, plentiful and unfailing water and have turned to to idols, broken cisterns of their own making.

God's reminds his people of their first devotion to him when he rescued them from Egypt and led them through the wilderness (2:1-2). We might argue that even then, Israel were a rebellious people, but now they have unashamedly turned to worthless idols. "What fault did your ancestors find in me" says the Lord, "that they strayed so far from me?" (v.5). Why have they turned away from the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, through the desert and into this fertile land? (vv.6-7). Even their leaders have abandoned the Lord and their prophets prophesy by Baal (v.8). Surely, says God, no other nation has "ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols" (v.11). The Lord's complaint concludes:

Does a young woman forget her jewellery,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
    days without number. (v.32)

Let me return to the strange words of that hymn with which I began. The hymn is not as strange as it might seem from the verse quoted and is worth reading through in full. It has a wonderful chorus:

Now none but Christ can satisfy,
  None other name for me;
There’s love and life and lasting joy,
    Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

Jesus spoke of himself as the source of living water – of abundant blessings to satisfy the thirsty soul. How sad that so many turn away from Christ to seek satisfaction in what their own hands can fashion or the world tells them will bring satisfaction.

Father God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Keep our hearts from turning away from Christ. Help us rather to draw others to him who is our life, our hope and our delight.

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Aug 13 2020 - 1 Peter 1:13-2:10 – As obedient children

Peter calls the Christians to whom he writes to live “as obedient children” (1 Peter 1:14). What persuasives are there to obedience?

Firstly there is the hope we have in Christ; “Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (1:13). Christ died for us and was raised from the dead in order to bring about the resurrection and transformation of all creation. We who have come to trust in him look for and long for the day when he will return and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness. We long for the day when we will be made perfectly like him in both body and spirit. If this is our longing, we will pursue holiness now even as we shall be holy then. If we long for the day when God will dwell among us in all his glory, we will want to be holy as he is holy (1:15-16).

Secondly, Peter reminds his readers, “it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1:18). If someone had bought you a very expensive gift you would, I hope, treasure it and look after it carefully. You have been bought with a great price – the precious blood of Christ. You are redeemed and set free from living for and from yourself – an empty way of life. You are precious in the sight of God. Treasure the life you have been given and live that life to the glory of God.

How are we to live the life we have been given in Christ?  "Like newborn babies," Peter writes, "crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:2-3). You know how eager a new baby is to feed on its mother’s milk – not allowing mum more than a few hours’ sleep before she is seeking another feed. We are to be like that, says Peter. We have tasted that the Lord is good; we have discovered that there is nothing and no one so wonderful as the Lord Jesus Christ. We have, as it were, gained a taste for him (cf. Psalm 34:8). Now we need to go on feeding on Christ; feed on him like a newborn baby who craves its food and is impatient to get more. Feed on him continually so that we will grow up in him.

We need to recognise who we are; “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (2:9-10). Once we were no one special, but that cannot be said of us any longer. In the mercy of God he gave his Son for us and made us his own very special people. He did this not just to pamper us but that through us the world might come to know the mercy, grace and love of God – we are a priestly people. We are to be a people whose words and actions declare the praises of our God and fill the world with the light of his glory.

Holy God, you have redeemed us by your Son. Help us by your Spirit to live as your redeemed people this day. Turn our hearts away from the empty way of life that marks this present age. Help us to set our hearts on the grace and glory that will flood this world when Christ appears. Enable us so to live now that we show the world something of the glory of the age to come. May others come to taste the goodness of Christ through the testimony of our lives. May they be drawn to feast on him.

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Peter Misselbrook