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Monday, September 30, 2013
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"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" (Jeremiah 2:13). "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:38).
In
the course of our visits to the various companies we serve as
chaplains, we enjoy travelling
through scenic off the beaten paths. I follow my dad's example in
looking for variety when I travel. Usually there are numerous ways to
get where you are going! The only problem is that Brooksyne who is
directionally challenged can rarely remember a route to a newer
location because I take a different one each time if possible.
We travel on some roads that make you feel as though you're traveling back in time about 100 years with more horse and buggie and old-order Mennonite bike traffic than autos on some days. We pass many one room schoolhouses where the children, of all ages, are gathered in a circle eating their lunch or engaged in a ball game often with the teacher pitching the softball.
We also enjoy stopping by the home produce stands and so often they have something else for sale as well. Last Friday we stopped at a stand that displayed an old pump with water gushing into an old barrel. It was for sale so I bought it, cleaned it up, and placed it right outside our office window where we can see and hear it!
I like old pumps and through the years have taken quite a few photos of pumps. My first memory of seeing a water pump was at my grandparents' small white frame house in the tiny town of Harwood Missouri about 100 miles south of the Kansas City area where I grew up. I distinctly remember that, upon our arrival, I'd run over to the water pump which was right beside the house. There I'd vigorously pump the long handle till water came gushing out. What a vivid memory I still have! However we knew not to drink the unhealthy water since it was merely run off which had gathered in a shallow cistern. A cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water.
Methodologies used in everyday living during the Bible period are archaic in comparison to the newer and easier methods implemented over the generations. Yet the timeless illustrations in Scripture convey spiritual truth that is always applicable. Some 2,600 years after Jeremiah wrote the first passage, we all, regardless of where we live, need water to survive! Jeremiah lived during a time of great national apostasy (falling away from faithfulness to God) and persistently called the people to repentance. In fact it was at the time of his ministry that the Kingdom fell and the people were taken into captivity. Among other truths this period of history reminds us that judgment does eventually come.
In the daily text God declares, "My people have committed two sins."
1) "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water." Consider these words, "They have forsaken me." That is the theme all through the second chapter and really the entire book. We can be sure with the loud testimony of Scripture and history that there are always consequences to forsaking God.
Living water is a wonderful descriptive phrase concerning the spiritual life God desires to impart to His people. This is what the people had forsaken. In this prophetic declaration Jeremiah is speaking spiritually using a natural example all can identify with. Yet then, as now, so many have forsaken the Lord and this source of living water, the only source of truly abundant life. Consider the words of Jesus: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
2) "And have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." God desires to supply living water but man seeks his own flawed substitutes, exchanging the spiritual living water with efforts to build their own cisterns, "broken cisterns that cannot hold water". The Full Life Study Bible note on this passage observes, "They seek life and pleasure in the idolatrous things of the world, things that have no real or lasting value". Today we note so many ways the vast majority are digging their own cisterns, determined to live life their way rather than God's way.
Jesus said in John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Perhaps our Lord is referring to the passage in Jeremiah when He made this statement, where God identified Himself as a spring of living water.
Today we encourage each reader to turn to the Lord and partake of the living water that comes from Him. Broken cisterns leak and dry up but living water supplied by God continuously overflows!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, we know that drinking fresh water is
essential to our health, and without it we battle bodily disease and
struggle to survive. Drinking from the springs of living water is essential to our spirit as we battle sin diseases of pride,
jealousy, rage, bitterness, lying and so many other carnal attitudes
that can result in spiritual death. As we drink from the springs
of living water we flush out those carnal diseases that would seek
to destroy us. Scripture assures us that we will be fully alive
in Your Spirit as we drink regularly from Your life giving streams of
living water. Amen.
Brooksyne's Note: I go back farther in time than Stephen's memory when it comes to water pumps. My grandparents, who lived on the mountain in Arkansas, had no electricity or running water. When water was needed we were commissioned to go out to the hand dug well and bring in a bucket of fresh drawn water by lowering a bucket on a rope deep into the water. When the bucket hit the water it dipped and filled with water and then we pulled the rope up by hand. There were a few summers when the well went dry and then we had to walk about 1/4 mile to the spring and lug home a bucket of water. Since we were young we probably spilled half of it before we got back. I'm thankful for those memories and experiencing the value of hard work.
Here's a photo of our "new" fountain at the corner of our house where we can see and hear it from my office desk.
A close up of the old pump. It has no date on it but was manufactured by the Columbiana Pump Company in Columbiana Ohio. A similar pump on Ebay sells for over $100.00 + shipping and I got the whole kit and caboodle for a fraction of that. A large 550 gph electric pump keeps the water running. It still makes a clanking metal to metal sound as the piston hits the inside of the pump housing. (It appears that Mollie is quite taken with the new water pump as well.)
I looked through previous daily encouragement messages for other pump photos I have taken through the years. Here's a sampling:
Ester and I checking out an old pump beside an old order Mennonite church. Notice the tin drinking cups hanging on the pump.
In this photo I was visiting with Rufus and his wife who are old order Mennonites. Rufus is demonstrating the pump for me. Notice the big hole for the 60' well just beyond the pump. I sure hope they keep that covered!
I'm not sure what all this pumping contraption does!
Visiting with our friends Lloyd and Janice we saw this old pump in the background.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Spring Up O Well" Video Phil Wickham Nice to hear one of the old songs we sang as young Christians brought back! (This recording cuts off early)
"Fill My Cup Lord" Video A studio version of a song that especially compliments the theme of our message today. It's a prayer for each of us, "Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole."
"Drinking At The Springs of Living Water" Video Haven of Rest Quartet with Lorin Whitney
"There Is A River" Video Gaither Vocal Band
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the "Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)
Are
our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to
consider making a donation to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can
continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is
accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily
Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support
of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this
ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.
Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
<Previous Message Next Message>
Monday, September 30, 2013
"Broken Cisterns"
Listen to this message on
your audio player."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" (Jeremiah 2:13). "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:38).
In
the course of our visits to the various companies we serve as
chaplains, we enjoy travelling
through scenic off the beaten paths. I follow my dad's example in
looking for variety when I travel. Usually there are numerous ways to
get where you are going! The only problem is that Brooksyne who is
directionally challenged can rarely remember a route to a newer
location because I take a different one each time if possible.We travel on some roads that make you feel as though you're traveling back in time about 100 years with more horse and buggie and old-order Mennonite bike traffic than autos on some days. We pass many one room schoolhouses where the children, of all ages, are gathered in a circle eating their lunch or engaged in a ball game often with the teacher pitching the softball.
We also enjoy stopping by the home produce stands and so often they have something else for sale as well. Last Friday we stopped at a stand that displayed an old pump with water gushing into an old barrel. It was for sale so I bought it, cleaned it up, and placed it right outside our office window where we can see and hear it!
I like old pumps and through the years have taken quite a few photos of pumps. My first memory of seeing a water pump was at my grandparents' small white frame house in the tiny town of Harwood Missouri about 100 miles south of the Kansas City area where I grew up. I distinctly remember that, upon our arrival, I'd run over to the water pump which was right beside the house. There I'd vigorously pump the long handle till water came gushing out. What a vivid memory I still have! However we knew not to drink the unhealthy water since it was merely run off which had gathered in a shallow cistern. A cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water.
Methodologies used in everyday living during the Bible period are archaic in comparison to the newer and easier methods implemented over the generations. Yet the timeless illustrations in Scripture convey spiritual truth that is always applicable. Some 2,600 years after Jeremiah wrote the first passage, we all, regardless of where we live, need water to survive! Jeremiah lived during a time of great national apostasy (falling away from faithfulness to God) and persistently called the people to repentance. In fact it was at the time of his ministry that the Kingdom fell and the people were taken into captivity. Among other truths this period of history reminds us that judgment does eventually come.
In the daily text God declares, "My people have committed two sins."
1) "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water." Consider these words, "They have forsaken me." That is the theme all through the second chapter and really the entire book. We can be sure with the loud testimony of Scripture and history that there are always consequences to forsaking God.
Living water is a wonderful descriptive phrase concerning the spiritual life God desires to impart to His people. This is what the people had forsaken. In this prophetic declaration Jeremiah is speaking spiritually using a natural example all can identify with. Yet then, as now, so many have forsaken the Lord and this source of living water, the only source of truly abundant life. Consider the words of Jesus: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
2) "And have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." God desires to supply living water but man seeks his own flawed substitutes, exchanging the spiritual living water with efforts to build their own cisterns, "broken cisterns that cannot hold water". The Full Life Study Bible note on this passage observes, "They seek life and pleasure in the idolatrous things of the world, things that have no real or lasting value". Today we note so many ways the vast majority are digging their own cisterns, determined to live life their way rather than God's way.
Jesus said in John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Perhaps our Lord is referring to the passage in Jeremiah when He made this statement, where God identified Himself as a spring of living water.
Today we encourage each reader to turn to the Lord and partake of the living water that comes from Him. Broken cisterns leak and dry up but living water supplied by God continuously overflows!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, we know that drinking fresh water is
essential to our health, and without it we battle bodily disease and
struggle to survive. Drinking from the springs of living water is essential to our spirit as we battle sin diseases of pride,
jealousy, rage, bitterness, lying and so many other carnal attitudes
that can result in spiritual death. As we drink from the springs
of living water we flush out those carnal diseases that would seek
to destroy us. Scripture assures us that we will be fully alive
in Your Spirit as we drink regularly from Your life giving streams of
living water. Amen.Brooksyne's Note: I go back farther in time than Stephen's memory when it comes to water pumps. My grandparents, who lived on the mountain in Arkansas, had no electricity or running water. When water was needed we were commissioned to go out to the hand dug well and bring in a bucket of fresh drawn water by lowering a bucket on a rope deep into the water. When the bucket hit the water it dipped and filled with water and then we pulled the rope up by hand. There were a few summers when the well went dry and then we had to walk about 1/4 mile to the spring and lug home a bucket of water. Since we were young we probably spilled half of it before we got back. I'm thankful for those memories and experiencing the value of hard work.
Here's a photo of our "new" fountain at the corner of our house where we can see and hear it from my office desk.
A close up of the old pump. It has no date on it but was manufactured by the Columbiana Pump Company in Columbiana Ohio. A similar pump on Ebay sells for over $100.00 + shipping and I got the whole kit and caboodle for a fraction of that. A large 550 gph electric pump keeps the water running. It still makes a clanking metal to metal sound as the piston hits the inside of the pump housing. (It appears that Mollie is quite taken with the new water pump as well.)
I looked through previous daily encouragement messages for other pump photos I have taken through the years. Here's a sampling:
Ester and I checking out an old pump beside an old order Mennonite church. Notice the tin drinking cups hanging on the pump.
In this photo I was visiting with Rufus and his wife who are old order Mennonites. Rufus is demonstrating the pump for me. Notice the big hole for the 60' well just beyond the pump. I sure hope they keep that covered!
I'm not sure what all this pumping contraption does!
Visiting with our friends Lloyd and Janice we saw this old pump in the background.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Spring Up O Well" Video Phil Wickham Nice to hear one of the old songs we sang as young Christians brought back! (This recording cuts off early)
"Fill My Cup Lord" Video A studio version of a song that especially compliments the theme of our message today. It's a prayer for each of us, "Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole."
"Drinking At The Springs of Living Water" Video Haven of Rest Quartet with Lorin Whitney
"There Is A River" Video Gaither Vocal Band
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the "Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)
Are
our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to
consider making a donation to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can
continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is
accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily
Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support
of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this
ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA