Jeremiah 17: 7 -8.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 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.”
Jeremiah offers a prayer of praise to God in Jeremiah 16: 19, claiming God to be the only God and the God of strength and refuge in the day of trouble. Jeremiah’s confidence was clearly in God alone but the sins of Judah were wicked and many trusted in wordly wisdom, idols and things that could not deliver them from their distress and bring their salvation, but relentlessly drive them deeper into sin and ruin.
Jeremiah 17: 5 – 10 is a meditation on the folly of trusting in humans, contrasted with trusting in the wisdom of God. The people of Judah would be utterly helpless in time of calamity because they had switched their trust from the Lord to human capabilities. They would be like shrubs in the desert, dried up and withered because of lack of water. Oh what peril awaits those who begin to trust in things of material wealth, and worldly wisdom, for they will soon find their life goes down hill very quickly where destruction and emptiness awaits with baited breath.
Has success or maybe failure taken you off course, where your confidence in God has been compromised? Have you tampered with your own selfish ways thinking you knew better, only to find yourself lower than low, in the pit of sin or perhaps the bottom of the barrel? God has a plan for you, my friend. He has a purpose for your life, so much more than you can even imagine. The Lord gives hope for restoration, in our verse of today for the people of Judah and to us. If His people will only turn from sin and selfishness and trust Him and place their confidence in Him, things will change as our spiritual roots begin to grow deep into His righteousness and find refreshment in the dry, parched places of hardship, that threaten to defeat. Through it all, His people will find peace and rest and continue to stand strong in the faith, bearing and sharing the evidence of a Christ filled life in their journey.
If you feel threatened or feel as if you’ve lost everything, it’s not to late to turn to the Lord for restoration. His promise is clear and His faithfulness is true. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Ask him to fulfill His purpose in your life and find peace today!
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 