"H2O For The Soul" - Jer. 2:4-13 - September 2, 2001

I have been on the Internet for five years and until recently I have never had a problem with viruses. I must confess that I found it hard to believe that a computer could actually get sick. Last week a virus infected my computer. It was sending e-mails at random, with attachments. Most of them were useless and couldn’t be opened by the recipients. What really drove me crazy was the two days I spent trying to eliminate an e-mail that kept coming to me, over and over again. At one point I had over 75 e-mails waiting to be received.

The virus that infected my computer was known as the Sircam virus. Fortunately I was able to get technical assistance and eliminated it. All of this could have been avoided had I not attempted to open an e-mail that had a warning with it. But I was curious as to what the sender was trying to tell me and made the mistake of opening it which allowed the virus to invade my computer.

I tell you this because it reminds me of Jeremiah. His listeners were infected too, their waters polluted. The virus that infected them, was also of their own making. Rather than choose to live by the "living waters" of Yahweh, they built cisterns of their own. In other words God gave them everything they needed but they ignored God and sought alternatives which were "worthless."

This past year there has been a controversy about the amount of acid in our water supply. The amount is minuscule, but apparently large enough to cause the President and Congress to struggle with the issue. We don’t like to admit to ourselves that our water supply is polluted. I was reading an article just last week which discussed the increasing pollution in the Great Lakes. There is evidence to show that there is a known muscle spreading in the lakes and tributaries which is taking away the food supply from the fish, thereby hurting the fishing industry.

Water composes three-fourths of the globe yet remains desperately deficient in much of the world. A water shortage does not exist, but relocating it from where it falls to where it is needed is very Expensive. Antarctic ice contains three-fourths of the world’s fresh water, but that doesn’t make it convenient to water a lawn in Los Angeles or to irrigate a field in Ethiopia. We can survive only two or three days without water. While a 5 percent loss of body water debilitates, a 15 to 20 percent loss is fatal. What water is to the body, the living water of God is to the soul.

Just as we have a tendency to be careless about our water supply we are also careless with our lives, chasing after "worthlessness, changing their glory for things which do not profit." Jeremiah said that the Israelites were making cisterns that held no water. They were tapping into a water supply that simply would not sustain them.

But why? They had forgotten about God. God had liberated them from Egypt and led them to a land of plenty. God led them safely through the wilderness reminding them of God’s faithfulness. But now they have turned away from God and sought after other gods. When things are going well for us we too have a tendency to forget about God. We tend to turn to God only when there is a crisis or when things are going bad for us.

A few months ago my internet provider initiated a new system. They developed a "junk mail" file for all those worthless emails. You know, the ones that promise you instant riches and success. The ones that have a great deal you simply can’t refuse. We are bombarded with advertisements through television, radio, magazines and junk mail all promising us great things. How easy it is to succumb to get rich quick schemes or products which will make us lose weight, improve our looks or fatten our bank accounts.

Fortunately my junk email is being screened out for me. I don’t have to bother opening this worthless information. I wish I could train my mailman to do the same. Speaking of mail, the other day I had a stack of mail on my desk which had been delivered while I was at lunch. Some of it was wet. It hadn’t rained that afternoon but then I realized that my mail was wet because of the sweat from the man who delivered it.

The prophet is reminding us that since God has been forsaken God wants to be remembered. God has sweat for us and God expects us to sweat for God. Jeremiah is calling us to remember since remembering God keeps us focused and enables us to keep our water acid free. God has also been replaced with other gods which are worthless and God wants to be returned to. Therefore, all worthless gods need to be discarded. Only God can provide the "living water" we need. It is fruitless to think there could be any substitute for God.

Perhaps the best way for us to understand the "living water" of God is to recall the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. In that encounter she asked to receive the living water and Jesus did just that. But, what did he give her, a drink from the well? What he gave her was the promise of salvation. He gave her forgiveness and unconditional acceptance. He then asked her to "worship God in spirit and in truth."

We all want the living water God gives but we are drinking from the wrong wells. Or the water we drink is stagnate and impure unable to quench our thirst. We struggle to find that pure, living source of life that God gives because we don’t trust that the water God gives will sustain us.

Several years ago my wife and I traveled to Cancun, on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. People told us not to drink the water there because it might make us sick. We packed water bottles in our suitcases and we were told to brush our teeth with Seven-up. We were told that if we did need to drink, make sure it had alcohol in it.

When we arrived at our motel in Cancun we soon discovered they had their own water purification plant. It was modern, sophisticated and had glass windows so you could witness for yourself their commitment to clean water. We were impressed and when we returned we told our friends of the changes that were being made it other parts of the world.

Jeremiah wants us to trust in the living water of God. There are no other substitutes or alternatives. The water God gives is sufficient for all our needs. God has provided for us in the past and God will provide for us in the present.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio