Broken
Jeremiah 2:13 KJV
(13) For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
You’re supposed to read the fine print, and, of course, all the instructions before using. But now, there is such a need to just go ahead and get started, and everything seems to be working all right anyway- might as well just read through as quickly as possible and see how the thing works. This may work for a little while, but there will come a time when details from that owner’s manual will show themselves to have been quite necessary information all along. You’ll find yourself at some point with something that no longer works at all or at least not in the manner for which it was designed, and one quick look back at the manual will reveal the reason for the breakdown and that the fault had nothing to do with the machine’s design or construction.
This is where I found myself recently with regard to my pressure washer. It really did work very well right out of the box, and I even made a quick read of the instructions, but some critical information was never fully known or misunderstood, and at a point when I really needed it for a job it was no longer able to produce pressurized water. It was broken. Now the manual became a means of discovering a solution to my problem, rather than prevention from it. These are some of the things that had been neglected to some degree or another:
1. You should never run the pressure washer without being connected to a water source.
(Though designed to make use of and handle water, the lack of water for any period of time would actually destroy internal parts of the pump that needed it for cooling and lubrication.)
2. You should never run it for over two minutes without activating the trigger so the water can flow through it.
2. Certain chemicals like bleach or acid should never be run through the pumps detergent injector.
3. The oil for the washer’s engine has to be checked and changed periodically. (This particular engine actually has a protection feature that will shut it down if the oil level gets too low, before serious damage.)
4. There is a separate oil reservoir for the pump that must be checked and changed even more frequently than the engine’s.
Well there are more, but these are some that definitely had critical relevance to my recent predicament with my pressure washer. I had been using the machine several times already with great results, and when I needed to clean off a big oil stain from a driveway I ran to Home Depot to get some chemical help. I read on the bottle that it could be used with a pressure ‘sprayer’, and, not realizing that this meant a small pump up sprayer rather than my gas powered machine, purchased it and began using it on the driveway. Before too long the pressure went down dramatically and the hose began to pulsate whenever the trigger was pulled. Long story short, I became much more interested in the instruction manual, and rather than just replace the pump, I began to discover how easily replacement parts could get me back in business.
Grace works really great right out of the box. The moment when new life in Christ begins is a wonderful time of sweet forgiveness and freedom. There are, though, some critical instructions that go along with this free and powerful gift:
1. In order to operate for any period of time, there must be a direct connection to our Water source. Attempting to run without maintaining a relationship with Him will guarantee blown seals and low righteousness production.
2. There is also a need for the Water to be flowing through us. Overheating and internal damage may result when there is no fresh flow passing through us. For Him to be His best in us, He must be flowing through us.
3. Our anointing oil needs to be checked continually and kept at a full level through praying and living in the Spirit.
4. In the areas we consider to be part of our personal purpose and our place in the kingdom, there must be an additional submission to and emersion in the oil of God’s Spirit. It will always be by His power and never by our strength.
I’m so grateful for the solution and the answer right here with us continually. Things break and they will (sickness, death, loss, sin, etc.), but the solution for prevention and complete restoration has promised to never leave or forsake us. By just becoming more interested in the Bible, the instruction manual, there will be first of all complete repair of broken and discouraged hearts, and then a return to functionality in the kingdom. And while you’re there, so much more can be discovered about the greatness of the Grace that will empower us with everything we might otherwise never know about or live in.
Broken? There’s repair and prevention info right there in the manual. Just learn to love it.
Joshua 22:5 KJV
(5) But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Philemon 1:6 KJV
(6) That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.