BROKEN CISTERNS by William Covert

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 11.

BROKEN CISTERNS.

By William Covert

BY ELDER WILLIAM COVERT.

The Lord, by the prophet Jeremiah (2:13) charges his people with two grievous things; he says, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

It would be very foolish in a man desiring a supply of water to forsake a living spring, bright and sparkling, and endeavor to supply its place by the use of a leaking cistern; yet very many are in spiritual matters doing this unwise thing. They seek the Lord and find him, but immediately conclude that their final salvation depends upon merits being found in themselves. Therefore, as the man who lives upon the thirsty plain prepares cisterns in which to store up the water when it rains, so they begin to labor to store up blessings to draw upon in the interval between revival meetings. Instead of being connected with the Lord, who is himself a living fountain of grace and glory, they depend upon drawing upon the supply that they have stored away in themselves. But, behold, when they go to the cistern, they find it broken, and the supply leaked out.

The Lord gives warning against this kind of life where he says, "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip [or "run out as leaking vessels," margin]." Heb. 2:1. If all would give the proper heed to the teaching of the gospel, the truth would come into the mind as God designs it should, and in that case it would not leak out and leave the heart dry and barren. All self-stored good or enthusiasm is as sure to leak out as water is sure to run out of a broken vessel.

A proper faith and understanding of what Christ is to the believer would make one know that there is no more call for him to become anxious about the supply of God’s blessings than there is need for the man who abides by a living fountain to store away in barrels a supply of water. The fountain of blessings is perennial to every child of grace. It is not pleasing to the Lord that his children try to store away for future use these spiritual blessings. There is no more wisdom in doing this than there would be in the husbandman storing away the sunshine for future use, or canning up the air during the storm for use in the calm days that follow.

The prophet asks: "Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people hath forgotten me." Jer. 18:14, 15.

Here the wonderful blessings that Lebanon bestowed upon the inhabitants of Palestine are taken by the prophet as a miniature outline representing the glories of God’s grace to man. As the Lebanon system of mountains was everywhere visible to the eyes of Israel, so should all behold the power and favor of God, which is everywhere visible to the eyes of men. Lebanon’s towering peaks, covered with eternal snow, while its lesser heights were clad in living green, together with its thousand hillsides and valleys, which were watered by living springs, that fed upon the alabaster crowns of the grand old mountains, formed pictures of glory which enthused the prophets of God. As Moses from Mt. Nebo beheld this picture, he said, "I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." Deut. 3:25. Solomon calls it, "A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon." Cant. 4:15. When writing of the glories of the world to come, the prophet said, "The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it." Isa. 35:2. If the dweller at the foot of Lebanon would manifest his folly in refusing to drink of its fountains, how much more folly would be manifested by turning from God, the fountain of life, to drink from the empty cup of self?

The weakness of God’s people has always been due to their looking away from the power of God, that they might look to self. They usually purpose to do something themselves that will place God under obligation to do something for them. Such an one is trusting in an arm of flesh instead of trusting in the living God, and God’s word says:—

"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." Jer. 17:5, 6.

This is a forcible picture of the barrenness of soul experienced by the one whose mind dwells upon self. He is like the plant trying to grow in the alkali desert. He simply loses all the vigor of life and dries up and dies. There is no deception more common and few more dangerous than looking to self and trusting in self to grow. Christ has especially cautioned against it. He asked, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature." Matt. 6:27. As no man can grow taller by fretting, so no Christian can grow more holy by worrying. As the healthy child grows by partaking of the things the Creator has prepared for this purpose, so the child of God grows spiritually by gladly feeding upon the food that God has prepared for this purpose. It is the Christian’s privilege to feed upon heavenly provender that the Lord gives to him, and grow as the plant.

The plant abides in the soil and the husbandman cultivates and prunes it as seems best to himself, and the plant just grows by receiving. It bears fruit by abiding. The husbandman expects fruit from the vine and the plant; so God expects fruit upon the vine of his planting.

But the fruitage is not helped by worrying.

All worry comes from unbelief. Hewing out cisterns to store away water for future use shows a lack of confidence in the Fountain to supply water in the days of drought. The Saviour says that plants and flowers, though more gorgeous in their apparel than Solomon in his glory, neither toil nor spin. They receive the glories of the sparkling dew and the shining sun, and grow thereby. So should Christians by faith behold the image of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and thus be changed into the same image.

There must be life in order to grow, and that life must appropriate constantly the nutriment from the proper food.

The food supply will be found in God’s word and in meditation and prayer. God manifests himself to the devout student in the earth, the air, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the growing grass, the rippling brook, in the song of the birds, and in the changing seasons. By all these he teaches and feeds his children. But God himself must be the strength and the life of his people. Joel 3:16. Let the mind ever receive him and absorb the divine nature. To feed upon self is self-destruction. Don’t do it.