One of the speakers yesterday at the International Association of Biblical Counselor’s annual conference was my friend C.J. McMurry. He serves at The Refuge, an in-residence home for men in Iowa whose mission is to provide hope and help for men who are enslaved by alcohol or drug addictions. While he spoke out of one of my favorite passages in Jeremiah, my mind went to the question, Are you addicted to anything?
Addiction in this sense relates to a life-altering or life-dominating enslavement or habit driven by a particular desire for something – which could be anything, not necessarily something sinful. Of course people often think of alcohol or drugs; however, as many of you know by experience, addictions can include social media, a particular soft drink, coffee, ice cream, particular series on television or streaming, a particular kind of tobacco, pornography, sex, or whatever. The idea is that you would consider yourself addicted if your desire ruled you such that you habitually serve your desire rather than God or others.
From that standpoint, I ask myself and you again, Are you addicted to anything? Do you or do I turn to anything other than the Living God for our refuge, hope, sanity, or in some way to find a way to cope with life around us?
Jeremiah 2
God makes the following observation while talking with Jeremiah in the Bible:
9 “Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord,
“And against your children’s children I will bring charges.
10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see,
Send to Kedar and consider diligently,
And see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
Which are not gods?
But My people have changed their Glory
For what does not profit.
12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this,
And be horribly afraid;
Be very desolate,” says the Lord.
13 “For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:9-13)
In this text, God says to be astonished that His people – the children of Israel – would turn away from Him to serve a false god. Notice His two charges:
- They have forsaken God, the fountain of living waters, and
- Have dug cisterns. Not just cisterns, but broken cisterns.
The Fountain of Living Waters versus Broken Cisterns
At the conclusion of CJ’s talk, he and I sat and visited about the craziness of what the children of Israel did. Think about this for just one second.
They turned away from the Fountain of Living Waters – that’s God – to a cistern.
What is a cistern? As you can see below in the two diagrams and a very empty but ornate cistern above in the image, a cistern is a whole dug in the ground that collects rain water. In the Middle East where it is dry and can go many months without much rain, you want to collect as much water as possible. Why? Because one’s life depended upon getting water. In that day, either you lived by a body of water, a creek or river, a dependable well, or used a cistern. In any case, you had to have a water supply in order to live.
As hot days came and went, the water in the cistern became stale, stagnant, and less than fresh. Of course, cistern water beats having no water. But there’s no comparison between a fresh fountain of water coming up from the deep with its fresh oxygen, refreshing bubbles, cool temperature, and, in many ways, life-giving sustenance.
Yet, Israel traded the Fountain of Living Water for a cistern. But, that’s not all! They traded the Fountain for a broken cistern. Wow! Not only did they walk away from the Fountain of Living Water, but they turned to a hole in the ground to collect water – and it leaked. They thought they could protect with a cistern, they could not protect. The cistern leaked which left them with nothing!
A Cistern Opening and Side Profile of a Cistern – From Logos 1000 Biblical Images
J. C. Whitcomb, “Cistern,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 205.Our Addictions and Broken Cisterns
As CJ and I talked after his presentation, we discussed how addictions are like that broken cistern. You or I turn to a particular thing – a substance, a habit, or whatever we live for – trying to find meaning or happiness or pleasure or relief or whatever. We seek that meaning, happiness, pleasure, or relief in something that is temporal, with feelings that do not last. In fact, the more you depend upon your cistern or addiction, the more you realize there’s nothing there.
We turn away from the Fountain of Living Water to a false promise.
You and I dig out cisterns for ourselves because we want to do it our way and not God’s way. We figure if we can provide meaning, happiness, pleasure, relief, or a refuge for ourselves our own way then we do not need God or need to submit to His way of living.
Think about the wasted and meaningless effort my friend!
You do the work to dig out your own broken cistern with your pick and shovel when the Fountain of Living Water runs behind you.
You do the work to dig out your own broken cistern with your pick and shovel when the Fountain of Living Water runs behind you. Click To TweetThe sound of your pick and shovel against the hard soil of life as you toil to make your own cistern is drown out by the rushing sound of the Fountain of Living Water that runs behind you which you have forsaken. You walk away from the life-giving and sustaining Fountain of Living Water to an empty, temporary, and life-robbing broken cistern of your choosing. You look for your own living water, when in reality there is nothing in the hole you dig for yourself. At the end of the day, you literally have just dug a hole.
The sound of your pick and shovel against the hard soil of life as you toil to make your own cistern is drown out by the rushing sound of the Fountain of Living Water that runs behind you which you have forsaken. Click To TweetAre You Addicted to Anything?
Back to our question, Are you addicted to anything?
If you are, my strong encouragement today – and God’s from the Book of Jeremiah – is to turn from your god-replacement to the Living God. Whatever your cistern is, please recognize that it is both a poor substitute and, ultimately, an empty promise. Only God offers life – not your silly cistern. All your cistern offers you is hard work, meaningless toil, false promises, disappointment, disillusionment, and destruction. Helpless, hopeless, empty.
All your work is drown out by the rushing sound of the Fountain of Living Water that flows behind you. The Fountain offers life, purpose, refuge, and refreshment. God delivers on His promises. But, you must turn from your way and back to Him in order to enjoy it.
Image Credit brisch27
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
This was a great article Kevin, as a father with a child enslaved by addiction I know how things can control and destroy our life. I also understand how many other things can take the place of our time with God. Many people would be astonished if you told them they were addicted by something other than drugs or alcohol, but Satan is very clever in disguising the things of this world that will can our attention off of our God.