Reflection on Jeremiah 17:5-10
“This is what the LORD says: The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD is cursed. He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives. The man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit…”
Do you long to be fearless and without worry?
Then trust in the LORD.
When we look to ourselves and others for our ultimate sense of strength, of value, of worth, of hope… we will always be ultimately disappointed.
People were not made to fill the place that only God can take. We were made to trust in Him. And so, when we look to other things to find what only God can truly provide for us we are left fruitless, hopeless, and anxious.
But there is another option, there is another choice for us to make. The one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed. That person will be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots and fearless of heat or drought, why? Because God is their supply. He is their source. He is the LORD. The Creator. The Sustainer. The Redeemer.
I am as tempted as the next person to look within, to look to others for my sense of strength and provision that only the LORD can truly provide…
So this call is for me, and for you, and for all people. To look to the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth, the One who in sending His Only Son to die for our sins and on the third day to rise again – I am called to look to, and to trust in Him.
He has provided for my ultimate needs, forgiveness and transformation through Jesus Christ. And He has promised that soon will come the day when my strength will never run out, when my hope will never fade away, when my faith will be sight in the presence of Him, my God, and my King.
certainhopeinhopelessness 