That’s a powerful image. Chasing after anything instead of God to take the place of God is like drinking salt water in the desert. Not only does it not quench your thirst, it actually increases it. Eventually, it kills you.

The prophet Jeremiah said that God’s people had forsaken the living waters to dig broken cisterns that can hold no water. But why?

Maybe they didn’t like what God was telling them. Maybe they wanted to do their own thing and have a god who would never question their lifestyles or choices but smile benignly on them at all times. Maybe they wanted prophets and preachers who would only tell them what their itching ears wanted to hear.

They didn’t want the truth because the truth is sometimes painful. The truth is that we need to be made right with God. Deep down, if we’re honest, we know we’re not right or righteous. We do the things we don’t want to do and don’t do what we know is good and right for us to do. Sound a bit familiar? Kinda like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7?

We can’t make ourselves right. Only God can do that. Our part is to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We cry to Jesus to be that Savior. Jesus does the rest.

“Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise” (Psalm 51:7-15, The Message).