Such a contrast presented in today’s today. We see one that is cursed and one that is blessed. It should cause us to take a hard look at ourselves. Who are we trusting in?
Jeremiah 17:5-8
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Who are we trusting in?
I suppose another question we could be asking is Who are we listening to? Cause if we aren’t listening to the Lord God nothing of what he says matters does it? He’s the one who is saying who is cursed and who is blessed.
I do hope that you, my readers, are in fact inclined to listen to the words of the Lord.
Let’s move on and listen to what he has to say eh?
He starts with those who are cursed. It’s starts off very simply. Those who are cursed are those that trust in mankind. Who think that themselves or others are the answers and they have hearts that turn away from the Lord.
Wow… I read that am I’m thinking to myself…how often do I trust in my own abilities and my own endeavors? Do we think through what we are doing when we are doing that? We are trusting in ourselves more than we are trusting in God. Now I’m not saying that it means we are cursed! Not at all. Because the text also says “who hearts turns away from the Lord”. But it is a warning isn’t it? A warning to be mindful of who we are trusting in, and gives us yet another reason to turn to the Lord to change our hearts. We need him to continually modify who we are to be more like him don’t we?
The Lord then paints a picture of a bush out in the desert. It’s going to have a hard time surviving isn’t it? All alone, in a place of desolation, with no hope of prosperity.
In Contrast, the Blessed
But then we have the blessed. A person who trusts in the Lord God, a person who is confident in God. Can you imagine what having confidence in the Lord does? Not being afraid, having no need to fret about things, because you know that God has it in hand.
The picture he paints for us is so different than the lonely bush growing in the desert, struggling to survive. Instead we see a tree planted by a stream of water.
You know what I imagine when I hear those words… a big willow tree growing next to a river, with it’s branches hanging out over the water, majestic, strong, welcoming for birds and insects, perhaps a squirrel or some other critter making a home in the shade of branches. That tree won’t have to fret about a hard, hot summer, it will have a stream and the bed it runs in to nourish it. It will continue, if it’s a fruit tree, to bear fruit year after year. Isn’t that a great word picture?
What does that say about the person who puts their trust in God? Can you see how it can make a person blossom? How it provides a confidence? If you confidently trust God you don’t have to fear the hard times in life. See yourself as that massive willow tree growing by a stream, confident that a hot summer isn’t going to be a problem.
Trust God is what it comes down to. Place your confidence in him.
We need to be asking ourselves: Who are we trusting in?
I love the images of trees in the word of God. There is so much to be taken from that picture of a tree getting its nourishment and water from that stream. We have to be like that tree, getting our nourishment from the word of God, being watered by what He says.
so very true indeed