God is on our side—until we’re not. Wait, does that make sense? God is on our side, but sometimes we wander away. Sometimes we are off track. That’s what sin means, off track. All the shouting in our text today is because folks don’t know that they are off track. This isn’t anger or wrath. This is God calling God’s people back. They’ve wandered off. Worse, they think all that they have received is due to their own efforts rather than a gift from God. They’ve forgotten to be grateful. All their gratitude has leaked out.

That’s the image that Jeremiah offers. We leak. We can’t hold the grace of God, the water of life. We receive it, we fill up, week by week, but it leaks out. And if we don’t return to be filled again, we’re going to go dry. We’re going to be running on empty. We need to return to the source. No one, Jeremiah reminds us in this text, thought to ask about the author of all the goodness the people enjoy. No one thought to wonder where God is in the business of their lives. So, we’ve gathered this week to worship and do that very thing, to fill up on God’s presence and to ask where God is in the rest of our lives. And to be reminded that God has always been present. We are cracked cisterns, letting the presence of God leak away from us day by day until we return to be reminded.