We have a new puppy, Winston. He bites. Sleeps. Eats. (Does one or two other things). Oh, and he digs. Winston doesn’t dig casually. He tunnels. Like he’s escaping from prison. It’s compulsive, ferocious, and filthy.
Why does that dog dig so much? I wondered recently. Then it hit me: I’m a digger too—prone to ‘digging’ into myriad things I hope will make me happy. They’re not always even bad things. But when I fixate on finding satisfaction in something apart from God, I become a digger. Digging for meaning apart from God leaves me covered in dirt and longing for something more.
Jeremiah rebuked Israel for being diggers: “They have forsaken me,” God said through the prophet, “and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). God disciplined His people for neglecting to seek Him. They’d dug their own wells in an attempt to quench their deepest thirst. But God reminded them that He alone is the “spring of living water” (v. 13). In John 4, Jesus offered this living water to the woman at the well, who’d also done her share of digging elsewhere ( vv. 10-26).
We’re all diggers sometimes. But God graciously offers to replace our fruitless digging with vital fulfilment with His water, which alone satisfies the deep thirst of our souls.
By Adam Holz
REFLECT & PRAY
Where do you tend to dig in search of meaning, hope or satisfaction? How can you entrust this area of your life to God?
Father, please help me taste and see that You’re what my soul longs for.
God told Jeremiah that Judah and Jerusalem were about to be invaded by nations from the north because His people worshiped idols (Jeremiah 1:14-16) instead of the living God who loved them. He asked, “What fault did your ancestors find in me?” (2:5). Their idolatry persisted across generations, so God would “bring charges against [them] again [and] bring charges against [their] children’s children” (v. 9). Yet He urged them, “Return, faithless people” ( 3:14). One day, He’d give them “shepherds after [His] own heart” who would lead “with knowledge and understanding” (v. 15). God pursues His people, and He alone provides what will truly satisfy their souls.
Tim Gustafson
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