Knowing God - Jeremiah 17:13

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O Lord ...

Those who turn away from you

will be written in the dust

because they have forsaken the Lord,

the fountain of living water.

Jeremiah 17:13

 

When I found this passage, I copied it down, and then thought to myself, "Wait! I can find a more positive passage on living water."

 

For example, to the woman at the well, Jesus equates living water with God's fullest blessings, saying, "If you knew the gift of God ..., you would have asked [me], and [I] would have given you living water" (John 4:10).

 

A few chapters later, Jesus says essentially that if your heart is filled with living water (God and his blessings), then out of you -- "out of the believer's heart [--] shall flow rivers of living water.' "

 

I like those. Positive. Uplifting.

 

So is Jeremiah 17:13. But it's also challenging.

 

It tells us triumphant that God is fountain of life -- indeed, "a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:14). But it also warns us not to forsake the wet and wonderful blessing of God and grace.

 

When (God-through-)Jeremiah says, "those who turn away from [the Lord] will be written in the dust," I imagine a vast and dusty desert. But then -- miracle of miracles to the heart that is parched -- a bountiful oasis. In the midst of this dry and dusty world, we can draw to God -- the true oasis, the fountain of life -- or we can ignore it, forsake him, and gradually starve ourselves to death (spiritual and terminal dehydration). 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants his name

written in the book of life

-- not by an old cattle skull

in the dust

 

Those who turn away from you

will be written in the dust

because they have forsaken the Lord,

the spring of living water.