[SUB12] MANANCIAL OU CISTERNA? - Luciano Subirá

Guys, I’m here today at the Barigui Park, in Curitiba to bring you a specific word to your heart. In a occasion, through the prophet Jeremiah, God makes a protest against the nation of Israel. My question to you is: would the God that loves you have any protest to make against your life?

In the next few minutes I want to talk a little about that. In Jeremiah 2:13 we read: “my people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, says the Lord, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. " The Lord makes that protest saying: “my people, the people that should have a relationship with me, the people of my covenant committed two sins.

" The first accusation or the first protest of God is that He was forsaken. He refers to Himself as a manancial, a spring of living waters. The second protest God makes is not only that they abandoned the spring but as a replacement, they decided to dig cisterns.

That speaks of reservoirs, of water storages. In the old days they didn't have piped water like we have today, the capacity and technology that we have today. They depended on some of these strategies.

So cisterns in the old days were holes they dug in the ground and did everything they could to retain the water from the rain. When we speak and think in the mentality of those days of old, firstly we need to recognize that water is essential to human subsistence In the same way when we talk about our relationship with God, we need to understand that this relationship is what defines not only our survival but it is what guarantee our lives. And God is saying: "Well, first you sin by forsaking me as the spring of living water, but secondly, you sin by digging your own cisterns reservoirs, fountains, cisterns.

" Maybe in a modern language we could speak of a water tank. In other words God is saying: “you you left the fountain to live from the water from the water tank. " When speaking this way God is communicating and this message maybe in that cultural context was even easier to understand than in ours, is that exactly when you look to the example of older people, to ancient civilizations where they decided to establish their cities their villages, their place of living?

Normally close to waters. Even because you can’t live without water. It is common to see in the bible people that were going to a well to get water, people that were going to a fountain to find water and God picks specially this figure to say: “this is my relationship with you, but you can’t abandon the spring of water and try to live of this reservoir, of stock.

" The practical message to us nowadays, I believe it must be observed and understood in these terms because many times we don't want a daily relationship with God. We try to replace that with other alternatives. So for example, the person that depended of a spring had to go there daily be it to drink or to bring water for her and her family.

This obviously challenged a little the comfort zone. But those who dug a cistern would normally do it on their backyard. Different than the fountain they wouldn't have to go far, unlike the fountain he wouldn't have to carry the water and today because we live in the piped water context we don't think about that effort.

Like the image not so distant we have in terms of time we have that person carrying water in their heads. That demanded effort, it demanded daily work but many times people would rather to be comfortable. When we bring that to our relationship with God we need to understand our necessity of separating time with God every day.

There is a search and a relationship with God that is daily but some people today try to live from stocking. I play that there is that believer we can call the camel-believer. He thinks he can fill the tank and to endure 40 days in the desert without having to drink anymore.

And actually in our relationship with God we can’t live that way, we need to see the importance of going to the fount everyday. Jesus used this figure many times. In John 7 he says: “Whoever believes in me", as Scripture has said, " rivers of living water will flow from within them.

" When the Lord Jesus speaks to that Samaritan woman, in Jacob's pit in John chapter 4, he says: "look, if you drink from the water I give you you’re not going to thirst anymore. " He says “this one you should depend on all time. " Jesus uses this analogy.

In the book of Revelations on chapter 7, the bible speaking of Jesus, referring to Hamas the Lamb, says that he’ll guide us to the fountain of waters of life. The Word of God itself presents the picture of the river of life and all the time God is saying “my presence, that you need to have daily contact". Many times we are replacing that.

An example of a cistern, of what is to work with a reservoir, some of us want to survive from services and still hear people saying: "woah, this service was a blessing, it filled the tank for me to make it this week. " With this he is already denunciating: “I don't want to go to the fountain or the spring every day. I have reservoir, it is my weekly meetings, be it in church, be it in small groups and somehow we’re trying to survive from this reservoir.

What is the problem of the reservoir? Besides the difference of the quality of the water that we know there is in between a spring and a fountain and the water that is stocked standing water, so besides quality itself, God denunciates that the cisterns were broken cisterns. What is God saying?

They can’t even retain the waters. What do you think a reservoir is? , What do you think in fact is saving water for you, God says that the truth is it isn’t , this is already being lost before you even think you can count on that.

I understand that one of the secrets of the Christian life is having a relationship with God day by day, it is not trying to live from a stock. And when I speak of stock, it ain’t only a moment of intense search in God for example in a service, a night watch, and nothing else for a long time later. But some work with stock when we speak about experiences with God.

They leave of experiences they had in the past instead of living of renovation. I believe that the big difference of the quality of the water in between the spring and the cistern is specially the fact that standing water doesn’t have te same quality. Many times we’re trying to drink from something is not renovated, that is living from these experiences, that is living of these moments that have already passed.

We need to understand, comprehend the principle, understand that God is not only protesting because of a lack of what to do, because He wants to imply with us, but because he wants to take us to that place where we drink from the best water, where we live the best possible way. Maybe it is time for you to stop to think, reflect and ask yourself: what am I living of? Of a spring, a fountain or a cistern, a water tank?

Because that is crucial for us not only to grow spiritually but also so we can keep being wholesome. Standing water is far from having the same power of health that the waters from the springs used to have. And in our own life and walk with God.

we need to think about this perspective. Maybe your spiritual health might have been affected specially by your positioning of not going every day to the spring, besides count on a reservoir. I believe that this is the moment for you to stop, evaluate your own heart, your life.

Maybe organizing yourself, because having daily time with God will demand from us at least two things: one, encountering maybe a time and place where we can keep our moment of intimacy with God. Jesus says: “when you go to talk to your Father, enter your room, close your door, speak to Him in secret. " There is a place where, daily, you and me can be but we also need to strengthen the vision and the understanding that wherever we may pass that we keep our hearts turned to the Lord, that we will be thinking about the Lord.

When we speak of our relationship with the word of God, for example. We can speak of the reading? Yes, but many passages of the Bible speak of meditation.

Meditation doesn't have to happen at the reading moment only, but maybe in the day by day, in a place where I pass, a situation I’m living and I might be reflecting about what I read. By the way, someone said that this word "meditate", because in Joshua 1:8 God says: “meditate in my word night and day. " The first psalm speaks of the same thing, someone said that the root of this word that was translated as meditate, is associated to the verb ruminate, that speaks of that cow that ate a lot of grass and then later has to process everything it ate.

You and I need to have that kind of attitude. We receive a word that strengthened our faith , for example, in a Sunday service. Instead of living only of that impact moment, of what was the momentary experience, of how much our faith was strengthened, we need to ruminate that, put that to practice, bring it to our life.

What of all that I heard am I lacking? And this moment day by day will allow God to continue what maybe was glorious in a special meeting, in a night watch prayer, in a special moment with God, bring it to this attitude of saying: I am going to God every day, I drink from the fountain all the time, it will lead us to a growth, a differentiated place. I conclude by asking you the question: spring or cistern?

Fountain or water tank? What are you living of?