CISTERNS, WELLS AND WATER
There is an African proverb that says once you carry your own water, you will learn the value of every drop.
Water is essential for life to exist on earth. On average, a human cannot survive without water for longer than three days. A recent trip to the Kruger National Park emphasised this point; where there is abundant water, animal and plant life thrive. Animals were conspicuously absent where dry riverbeds ran through swaths of land.
Most people take water for granted. We are spoilt for options in the sense that we can run a hot bath, take a shower, open a tap and voila! Water.
We can thank all the advancements in modern day plumbing to knowledge gained over millennia. We have come a long way from the wells in the Book of Genesis, to Roman aqueducts, up to now. From Biblical times on, people’s daily life centred around water. 
I recall a time when a major water pipeline had burst and our community did not have water for 53 hours! Since then, I always have extra water containers in the house, in case of an emergency. Benjamin Franklin’s words are so true: “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
It’s said that the word “water”, is mentioned 722 times in the Bible. It is not just a source of life-giving provision, but it is also a symbol to describe the Holy Spirit. Water is connected to the theme of salvation, to purification and baptism. Eph. 5:26 speaks of washing yourself with the water of the Word. We read of divine encounters happening at wells. John 4:1-12 is an example of this. Indeed, Yeshua is the water of Life!
Let’s be wise and heed Jeremiah’s 2:13 warning: “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.” In the Bible, “Broken cisterns” refer to turning away from God and focusing on worldly things instead. E.g. Man-made philosophies, the pleasures of this world, materialism, social media, your own accomplishments, or any other idol that you can think of. These things will never satisfy you. They are all flawed substitutes. Things of this world have no lasting value.
An example of a cistern at Qumran
How then is it possible that we seek another source to help or guide us? I believe this saddens God tremendously, when He sees that people run to idols instead of to Him. We can easily agree with Jeremiah and shake our heads in dismay because of Israel’s mistakes. Yet, we do the same thing. It is just wrapped in a modern day “cover”, a 2025 edition. Jer. 4:1-2 “Israel, if you will return, says Adonai, yes, return to Me.”
Turn away from broken cisterns, they hold no water! Yeshua invites us to come to Him, to drink deeply from Him, because only He can fully satisfy your soul. Yeshua is the uncontaminated Source.
John 7: 37b -38 “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Yeshua is the well of salvation. It all boils down to this; is your life right with Jesus? You see, nothing drives this point home in a more crystal-clear way, than when you spend time with someone during their last moments. Then you don’t mince your words.
The spotlight shines on the question. Is Jesus your Lord and Saviour? Nothing else matters, because world systems and possessions, all those “broken-cistern-idols” cannot save you.
It is a wonderful privilege and peace of mind, to know a loved one’s eternal salvation is secure.
I’d like to share a few versus from the beautiful Horatio Spafford* song, written in 1873.
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
- Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.”
The Psalmist equates a deer panting for water with our deep longing for God. There is a sense of urgency. I pray that you yearn for God and have your own deep personal encounter with Him. When you feel parched, may He be the fountain of Living water!
***
*Horatio Spafford wrote this song in the face of incredible loss. His 4 daughters died in a shipwreck on 22 Nov. 1873. When he sailed over that same area of the Atlantic Ocean, he penned the words. What a marvellous example of faith!
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