Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read Joshua 8 and Jeremiah 2 today. This devotional is about Jeremiah 2.13, but let me read the entire chapter of Jeremiah 2 first. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says. I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who devoured her found themselves guilty. Disaster came upon them, declares the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel. This is what the Lord says. What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? They did not ask, Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt? who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one else travels and no one lives. I brought you into a fertile land, to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled my land, and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, Where is the Lord? The experts in the law no longer knew me, and the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by bail and followed useless idols. Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the Lord, and I will bring a case against your children's children. Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look. Send to Kadar and consider carefully. See if there has ever been anything like this. Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for useless idols. Be stunned by this, O heavens, be shocked, and utterly appalled, declares the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot hold water. Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why then has he become prey? The young lions have roared at him. They have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land. His cities lie in ruins without inhabitant. The men of Memphis and Tephanes have shaved the crown of your head. Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way? Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Your own evil will discipline you. Your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the Lord your God and have no fear of me, declares the Lord God of hosts. For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, I will not serve. Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree, you lay down as a prostitute. I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before me into a rotten, wild vine? Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God. How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not run after the bales? Look at your behavior in the valley, acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel, galloping here and there, a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves, In mating season they will find her. You should have kept your feet from going bare, And your throat from being thirsty, but you said, It is hopeless, for I love foreign gods, And I must go after them. As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, So the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, say to a tree, you are my father, and to a stone, you gave me birth. For they have turned their backs to me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble they beg, rise up and save us. But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah. Why do you bring a case against me? You have all rebelled against me, declares the Lord. I have struck your sons in vain. They accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion. You people of this generation consider the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of dense darkness? Why do my people say, We are free to roam, we will come to you no more? Does a maiden forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. how skillfully you pursue love. Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways. Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things you say, I am innocent. Surely his anger will turn from me. Behold, I will judge you because you say, I have not sinned. how unstable you are, constantly changing your ways. You will be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were by Assyria. Moreover, you will leave that place with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those you trust. You will not prosper by their help. This is God's word. And again, this devotional is about Jeremiah 2.13, which says in the NIV, 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. This second chapter of Jeremiah began God's complaint against His people. The immediate audience was the population of Jerusalem, according to verse 2a, and God recalled in glowing terms the exodus of all the tribes of Israel from Egypt in verses 2b and 3. Starting with verse 4, God turned to the spiritual problems of His people. As usual, the main problem was idolatry. Here in verse 13, the subject of this devotional, God charged Israel with rejecting him and choosing their own way. He used an image related to water to visually describe his complaint. Forsaking God meant rejecting, in the words of verse 13c, the spring of living water. This refers to the gift of spiritual life that comes from trusting God by faith. Jesus also used this image in his conversation with the woman at the well. You can see John 4.14 for that. And in doing so, he promised that those who believed in him, in Jesus, would never thirst again. But there's a second watery image used here, and that one is in Jeremiah 2.13, in line D, which says that they have dug their own cisterns. Cisterns are holes in the ground that collect rainwater and rainwater runoff. In the desert, where lakes and streams are rare and springs of underground water are hard to find, these cisterns that men dig are quite useful. The rainwater they retain can be used to irrigate crops, and they can hydrate animals, and if necessary, they can provide drinking water for people. But rainwater lacks the good taste and refreshing nature of spring water. You might drink rainwater if you had to, but you would long for spring water and look hard to find it. God used this image to tell his people that he offered them an endless supply of life and refreshment. But they chose the dirty water left over from rain and runoff instead. This water could not replenish itself. Instead, once the cistern was dry from use and from evaporation, it would remain an empty well until the next rain, which may not come soon in a desert climate like Judah had. The spiritual image here, then, is that God's people traded the life God gives spiritually To those who believe his word, they traded that for spiritual leftovers gathered by human ingenuity. This water offered some refreshment, but it was also contaminated and limited in supply. Furthermore, the collection methods people used to get it were flawed. Verse 13E calls them broken cisterns that cannot hold water. So imagine those water collecting cisterns in the ground that leak and the water leaks out into the ground underneath your feet. Other religions teach some truth that God's word also teaches. These religions may teach morals and ethics that our faith also teaches. They may offer the hope of life after death. and may even hold to one God instead of many gods. Human philosophy and psychology also offer truths that correspond to some of the teachings of God's Word. But even when these alternatives to biblical faith are right, they are at best severely limited, unclean, and even contaminated and ultimately unable to satisfy with eternal life. They're like the rainwater. Yet, this is what we imbibe when we look to political solutions for human problems, or to psychology as the answer to human problems, or to other religions, even those who claim some association with Jesus. Consider the sources, then, of the information you consume. How much of it is the collected runoff of philosophy or spirituality versus the genuine spiritual life God gives us by grace? Drink deeply from God's word and let it refresh and satisfy your soul. Don't settle for the dishwater swill of this world. If you found this devotional helpful, I'd encourage you to go to my website dailypbj.com slash subscribe and enter your email address and every day for free, these devotionals will show up in your inbox and that will cue you to be in God's word each day in this way. Would you like to join my community and support my work? If so, go to dailypbj.com slash support. And thank you to all of those of you who so faithfully support me month after month. Please share this with someone who may need to feel refreshed in their spiritual life. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.