SPRING FORTH NOW 2025

Sunday, April 6, 2025

This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me?  They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.  They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’  I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce.  But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.  The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’  Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me.  The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.  “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord.  “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.  Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar[a] and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods?  (Yet they are not gods at all.)  But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.  Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. “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.

Jeremiah 2:5-13 (NIV)

“They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves”—and still today, how often do we find ourselves chasing after hollow hopes and shiny distractions, forgetting the God who led us through the wilderness and made a way where there was none? We dig broken cisterns with our own hands—pouring our time, attention, and trust into things that cannot hold or heal us—while, God, the Spring of Living Water, waits with unwavering love. In our constant reaching outward—for applause, affirmation, and artificial peace—we miss the Hidden Manna God has placed within, quiet and steady, waiting to be discovered beneath the noise. He does not condemn us for our wandering; instead, He whispers to us, “Return to Me”—a call not just to come back but to come deeper. Today, I choose to stop the fruitless searching and turn inward, not to find myself, but to find Him—the One who has been dwelling in my depths all along. In this sacred returning, I feast on the Hidden Manna, that soul-nourishing Word buried in brokenness and watered by grace. Let this be the day I stop Looking In All The Wrong Places and begin living from the divine wellspring already within me.