I don't know your story and you don't know mine, but we share a common theme. We are driven by the search for true identity, a desire to be understood and appreciated for who we are.
We have longing to seek out something more. Those are not evil desires. God gave us the desire to seek the essence of who he created us to be, so that he can fulfill it. He created the thirst so we can enjoy the Living Water. Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time and energy looking everywhere else but to him for that fulfillment.
In Jeremiah 2 God paints a picture of how his people loved him like a bride loves her groom, full of passion and complete in their devotion to him. But their hearts changed. In Jeremiah 2:13 God says that his people have forsaken him, the spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns. They are looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. You can hear the Father's grieved heart as he lays out their behavior before them and then ends with "How's that working for you?"
My heart sinks as I see the areas in my life where I have chosen to find identity in my own broken cisterns, rather than drinking the Living Water. We too easily revert back to our own cisterns that can hold no water. Look at the cisterns in your life. What seemed like such a good source of legitimacy suddenly pales in comparison to true legitimacy found in God. That is why it is critical to meditate on the truths of who God is and who we are in Him until it sinks down deep into our spirit, soul, and body. John Calvin wrote in The Institutes Of The Christian Religion, "It now remains to pour into the heart itself what the mind has absorbed. For the Word of God is not received by faith if it fills the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart." Calvin is urging us to take deep drinks of the Living Water of who he is and what we have because of who he is:
He is Jehovah-Jireh (provider).
Genesis 22:14 Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.
You can be sure he sees and knows your every need.
Matt. 6:8 Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
He is Jehovah-Rophe (healer).
Ex. 15:26 I am the LORD, who heals you.
You are being renewed.
Isa. 40:31 ... those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength...
He is Jehovah-Shalom (peace).
Jdg. 6:24 ... and called it The LORD is Peace.
You have life and peace.
Rom. 8:6 ... to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
He is Jehovah-Nissi (banner).
Ex. 17:15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner.
You are led in Christ's triumph. 2 Cor. 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ...
He is Jehovah-Rohi (shepherd).
Ps. 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd...
You are his well-tended sheep.
Ps. 100:3 We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
He is Jehovah-Tsidkenu (righteousness).
Jer. 23:6 This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
You are free from the law of sin and death.
Rom. 8:2 Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
He is Jehovah-Shammah (GOD WHO IS THERE, Eze. 48:35)
Mat. 28:20 Surely I am with you always...
You are continually with God.
Ps. 73:23 Yet I am always with you...
Stop and allow these truths to sink deep into your spirit. You may "know" these Scriptural facts, but now really receive their truth deeply in your spirit where your legitimacy, identity, significance, and birthright are defined by God.
Remember whose you are... and who you are in him!
