Jeremiah 2:13 — Self-Sufficiency Is Not The Christian Way to Deal With Grief

Self-Sufficiency Is Not The Christian Way to Deal With Grief

"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 2:13 (NIV)

Reflection

God does not condemn you for being thirsty. He condemns you for digging holes in the ground when the spring is right there. Grief drives people to fill the void with anything that promises relief: work, distraction, numbness, control. None of it holds. That is not failure; that is design. Broken cisterns crack because they were never meant to sustain you.

Notice God names two sins, not one. Forsaking Him is the first. Digging your own cisterns is the second. You can walk away from the source and still try to survive. That attempt is not courage; it is rebellion dressed as self-sufficiency. Every cistern you dig proves the same point: you were made to drink from God, not from your own efforts.

Stop pretending you can manufacture what only God provides. The spring of living water does not run dry. Your cisterns do. Every single time. If you are exhausted from digging, that is not a sign to dig deeper. It is a sign to stop and return to the source you abandoned.

Biblical Insight

Jeremiah prophesied to Judah during a season of spiritual adultery. The nation chased other gods while claiming loyalty to Yahweh. A cistern in ancient Israel was a hand-carved reservoir used to collect rainwater. It required constant maintenance and often cracked, rendering it useless. In contrast, a spring provided fresh, flowing water without human effort. God's indictment is precise: His people exchanged the reliable for the broken, the living for the stagnant. They did not merely forget Him; they actively replaced Him with inferior substitutes that could never satisfy.

In Application

• Name the cisterns you have been digging: control, distraction, self-reliance, bitterness.
• Admit that none of them hold water; they never will.
• Return to God as the only source that does not fail.
• Stop measuring your strength by how well you survive without Him.

Practical Journaling

Reflect on Jeremiah 2:13, then write honestly:

• What broken cisterns have you been digging in your grief?
• How have they failed to satisfy or sustain you?
• What does it mean for you to return to God as the spring of living water?
• Write a prayer confessing your attempts at self-sufficiency and asking God to lead you back.

If writing feels too heavy today, simply sit with the image of a spring versus a cracked cistern. Let it speak.

The Faith Recovery Journal explores this and many similar topics.