In 1985 I was privileged to attend Larry Crabb’s Institute in Biblical Counseling at Glen Eyrie. It was a life altering experience, profoundly impacting not only my approach to ministry, but also life. It impacted my relationships with my wife and all of the people with whom I was in contact then and now. My continued exposure to Crabb and those who studied with him ultimately changing the trajectory of our life and ministry.
One morning of the Institute at the Glen, Larry shared a devotional from Jeremiah 2:12 – 13. His point was that we all tend to abandon trusting God to create for ourselves systems to deal with life that are self protective to allow us to deal with the brokenness that is life in this world, broken cisterns.
In Psalm 9:15, 20 and Psalm 7:15 - 16, I encountered thoughts that brought this devotional vividly back to mind. In 9, David is extolling the excellence of God over and against that of the world. David’s thought here is that the nations fall into the pits and get caught in the nets of their own devices. He extends Jeremiah’s thought. Not only do the cisterns not hold water, they are a trap for those who have built them. David said nearly the same thing in Psalm 7. The context there is when one refuses to repent from trusting in self, again the schemes constructed to make life work become a trap.
For me this has been neither easy nor a onetime decision. I have to continually be aware of when I am moving back into strategies to make life work, to control things, rather than trusting the one who has paid such a heavy price for my freedom from having to construct leaky cisterns.
In Psalm 9:15, 20 and Psalm 7:15 - 16, I encountered thoughts that brought this devotional vividly back to mind. In 9, David is extolling the excellence of God over and against that of the world. David’s thought here is that the nations fall into the pits and get caught in the nets of their own devices. He extends Jeremiah’s thought. Not only do the cisterns not hold water, they are a trap for those who have built them. David said nearly the same thing in Psalm 7. The context there is when one refuses to repent from trusting in self, again the schemes constructed to make life work become a trap.
For me this has been neither easy nor a onetime decision. I have to continually be aware of when I am moving back into strategies to make life work, to control things, rather than trusting the one who has paid such a heavy price for my freedom from having to construct leaky cisterns.
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