The contrast further is between living waters and broken cisterns. God
is the fountain of living waters; in other words, in fellowship with
God there is full satisfaction for all the capacities and desires of
the soul; heart--conscience--will--understanding--hope and fear.
The contrast of the empty cisterns. What a deep thought that with all
their work men only make 'cisterns,' _i.e._ they only provide
circumstances which _could hold_ delights, but cannot secure that water
should be in them! The men-made cisterns must be God-filled, if filled
at all. The true joys from earthly things belong to him who has made
God his portion.
Further, they are 'broken cisterns,' and all have in them some flaw or
crack out of which the water runs. That is a vivid metaphor for the
fragmentary satisfaction which all earthly good gives, leaving a deep
yearning unstilled. And it is temporary as well as partial. 'He that
drinketh of this water shall thirst again'--nay, even as with those who
indulge in intoxicating drinks, the appetite increases while the power
of the draught to satisfy it diminishes. But the crack in the cistern
points further to the uncertain tenure of all earthly goods and the
certain leaving of them all.
All godless life is a grand mistake.