No Cash Value
Written by Heather Block
My husband and I took a trip to Sooke, BC and as this was our first time there we toured around the island and marvelled at God’s beautiful creation! The majestic trees, towering mountains, the Gold Stream Salmon Run, the rich fall colours which all declared God’s Handiwork. Scripture tells us; “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. “ Psalm 19:1 ESV. There is no beauty like that found in the world God created.
While there my husband and I stopped at a fast food place to pick up something for supper. My husband paid the gentleman in cash and my husband threw the change in the center console of the rental car. A day or so later we were going through drive-through to pick up a couple of coffees and so I went to grab the change in the center console only to discover the change we received earlier included a coin that was made to look and feel like our Canadian Loonie only to discover “No Cash Value” was stamped on the front of it.
The coin became such a picture to me of the things in life that look like they will get us what we are looking for and yet when we are in need we find that they too have “no cash value”. The things we have gathered along the way, the money, the vacation, the job, all come up short when we are truly in need for something (or Someone) that is real. We will never be disappointed if we place our trust, our security in our Heavenly Father.
Jeremiah wept over the people of Israel who had turned their backs on God. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” We are not the first generation that has lost its way and turned our backs on the One who offers living water. Many of us grew up in the church and left. Sometimes it is because we became disillusioned with people in the church, sometimes it is because we became disillusioned with God when we expected Him to respond differently to some of life’s circumstances than He did and that has derailed us.
I can tell you that there are many things we will not understand this side of eternity but “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day (of His return)” 2 Timothy 1:12. Life is full of disappointments and things that glitter that are not real, but we can be absolutely confident that our Heavenly Father loves us and is always willing to welcome us back, exchanging the emptiness within for living water. I want the Living Water don’t you?