Broken Cisterns

So this summer I've been slowly rereading a book that I was given last summer upon returning home from Togo. This morning I read a portion of the book that really got me thinking. The book is called Unearth and it's by Christy Vidrine and Autumn Rogers, I highly recommend it (especially if you've ever gone over seas or are planning to ever go).

"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,and hewed out cisterns for themselves,broken cisterns that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

"We were never made to love within our own power. We are broken cisterns and we spend most of our time and energy trying to keep enough 'water' to sustain ourselves. God knew this and that is why He tells us to stay near the living water. We must be ever renewed by Him if we are going to love others well. If Christ's love is the only thing that can truly sustain and fulfill you, then how can we ever love apart from it. God tells us our broken cisterns can hold no water; we must come to Him to provide."

Cisterns (from what I understand it after looking it up on the completely reliable source google ;)) are kind of like wells, they were used to hold water. Broken cisterns are practically worthless, dirt would enter the water making it pretty much unusable. We build our own cisterns we we try to control things or when we think we can do it all on our own. The cisterns we build are cracked unable to be fully filled or used. I'd imagine that when a cistern was cracked water would also leak out, making it nearly impossible to keep the cistern full. Without Him we can do nothing, without Him we are empty and unsatisfied. We are broken cisterns who need to rely on Him so He can fill in our cracks, make us whole, and use us for what we were intended.