"Who Do You Say That I Am?"

"For My People have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." -Jeremiah 2:13

When you go before God in prayer and spend time in His presence, do you ever really consider the way that He desires to relate to you? What is the picture of the relationship with you that God Himself has in mind? I admit that I don't typically go throughout my day thinking of the Lord in this way, but truth is, God Himself orchestrated a relationship with man that goes far deeper than most of us realize. 

The Father calls Himself the fountain of living waters in Jeremiah and Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life and the living waters in the Gospels. God calls Himself the inheritance of Aaron in the Torah.  So why does God speak of Himself in these terms? Why does the Lord not just say, " I am God, follow me and I will show you where to find bread. I will show you where the river is to quench your thirst." 

Two reasons I can see is that 1: it speaks of the intimate union God created us for and 2: this tells us that God never intended for the deepest needs or extravagant desires of man to be met outside of Him. They were never even to be satisfied in anything the Lord would give us. God reserved that honor for Himself. 

This is the God we serve that actually wants to be nearer to us than any earthly relationship we could ever have. God Himself is the sustenance of our innermost being. It's incredible that the God of the universe actually wants us to live off of the very substance of His being!  There can be no doubt that He indeed is a God near and not far off.  My prayer for myself and you is that we all mature to the point that wanting this kind of closeness to God through His Son becomes our greatest motivator for fleeing sin. Jesus is our pattern in this, and He never worried about not doing things because the Father would punish Him. His chief motivation was to see the Father's joy. I know that eventually I must move from the selfishness of doing God's will because it might mean something bad for me if I don't to wanting His will done just because it brings the Father joy. We have to let it sink deep in our hearts that the Father receives joy and pleasure when we find ourselves fully satisfied and sustained by Him. 

As you search out the heart of God now and in the days to come, ask Him to show you what it means for Him to be your living bread, your living waters. Think about that: God wants to be the very reason you come alive! He loves you and I in amazing ways that we can only begin to discover in this life.

TREASURE MAP:

Numbers 18:20; John 6; John 7:37-39, 15:1-12; Rev. 21:5-7; Ez. 47:1-12