The story of a young mother who killed her child by offering him imitation formula milk (which she thought was original and the better food) instead of her own breast milk.

¹³ “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.

Israel had committed two sins. The first was one of omission: she had forsaken her God. Her second sin was one of commission: she had replaced her true God with false idols. Man’s heart, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Using imagery that those residing in Judah would understand, Jeremiah compared the nation’s actions to someone abandoning a spring of living (running) water for broken cisterns. The most reliable and refreshing sources of water in Israel were her natural springs. This water was dependable; and its clear, cool consistency was satisfying. In contrast, the most unreliable source of water was cisterns. Cisterns were large pits dug into the rock and covered with plaster. These pits were used to gather rainwater. This water was brackish; and if the rains were below normal, it could run out. Worse yet, if a cistern developed a crack it would not hold the water. To turn from a dependable, pure stream of running water to a broken, brackish cistern was idiotic. Yet that is what Judah did when she turned from God to idols.

Our Cisterns or idols

(a) The Success Syndrome

(b) The Fame and Honor Syndrome

(d) The Pleasing Family and People Syndrome

What are we going to do about it?

Soli Deo Gloria

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