我們剛養了一隻小狗，名叫豆豆。牠喜歡亂咬東西、睡覺和吃飯。噢，牠還喜歡做別的事，尤其是到處挖掘。豆豆可不是隨便挖一下，牠是在挖隧道，就像要越獄一樣。牠常不自覺地拼命挖，把自己弄得渾身髒兮兮。

我總是想不通：為什麼牠這麽喜歡到處挖？然後，我突然意識到，我自己也是個挖掘者──總愛「挖掘」無數我希望能帶給自己快樂的事物。這些事物不見得都是不好的，可是當我總是想從上帝以外的事物中尋求滿足時，我就成了一個挖掘者。在上帝之外挖掘生命的意義，會讓我滿身污穢，得不到滿足且渴望更多。

上帝藉先知耶利米斥責以色列民是挖掘者：「他們離棄了我……為自己挖了不能蓄水的破池子」（耶利米書2章13節，當代譯本修訂版）。上帝管教祂的子民，因他們輕忽尋求祂。眾人為自己挖井，期望能滿足乾渴，但上帝提醒他們，只有祂才是「活水的泉源」（13節）。約翰福音4章記載，耶穌將這活水賜給井邊的婦人，她先前也拼命在別處挖掘（10-26節）。

有時候，我們都是挖掘者。但上帝慈愛地供應這活水，取代你我一無所獲的挖掘，唯獨祂所賜的活水能滿足我們靈魂深處的渴望。

We have a new puppy, Winston. He bites. Sleeps. Eats. (Does one or two other things.) Oh, and he digs. Winston doesn’t dig casually. He tunnels. Like he’s escaping from prison. It’s compulsive, ferocious, and filthy.

Why does that dog dig so much? I wondered recently. Then it hit me: I’m a digger too—prone to “digging” into myriad things I hope will make me happy. They’re not always even bad things. But when I fixate on finding satisfaction in something apart from God, I become a digger. Digging for meaning apart from God leaves me covered in dirt and longing for something more.   

Jeremiah rebuked Israel for being diggers: “They have forsaken me,” God said through the prophet, “and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). God disciplined His people for neglecting to seek Him. They’d dug their own wells in an attempt to quench their deepest thirst. But God reminded them that He alone is the “spring of living water” (v. 13). In John 4, Jesus offered this living water to the woman at the well, who’d also done her share of digging elsewhere (vv. 10-26).

We’re all diggers sometimes. But God graciously offers to replace our fruitless digging with vital fulfillment with His water, which alone satisfies the deep thirst of our souls.