“5. Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
The first four words of this passage are very powerful. Its something that every reader needs to give full attention to. When God begins to speak we would all be wise to listen! The Bible says, “Thus saith the LORD…” How do you live your life as a believer? Is it according to these four words? As God uses Jeremiah to speak to the house of Judah, its unfortunate that God’s chosen people chose to follow the arm of flesh rather than the mercies of God. What exactly does the arm of flesh mean? One thing we know about the arm is that it can be full of muscles. Its where you will find strength! The Bible is telling us here that when you trust in your own strength, rather than God’s strength, you can expect a curse to fall upon your life. So let’s think about God for a moment; sinless, everlasting love, all knowing, all powerful, Creator, righteous, merciful, and many other things. Now let’s think about man; sinner, wicked, liar, thief, backbiter, self-willed, hater, proud, unkind, unfriendly, etc, etc. God’s way is always perfect and God’s way is always faithful! We have a lot of believers today thinking that our hope is found in the election, a religious person, or even a professional hunter or fisherman. What is consuming your life right now? Where is your hope? Is it truly in the LORD? Its a natural thing for us to follow our way or the way of others, but it leads to nothing more than a curse! That’s what the Bible says! Verse five tells us that when we put our strength in ourselves or other human flesh, our heart will depart from the LORD. God knew that Judah would not repent of their evil way, but He still sent Jeremiah to warn them. God is very long suffering, but He knows your end. He knows right now whether your strength is in Him or in man. The United States of America is turning away from God’s righteousness. Think about what we are seeing; school shootings like never before in history, historical monuments torn down, defunding those that serve and protect, murder in the womb like never before, hatred, burning Bibles, CWD, EHD. Look at verse five again, “Cursed be the man…” look at verse six too, “For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh…” The word heath is referring to being left empty. Picture for a moment an empty desert! Now imagine living there. That’s exactly what life will be like to believers that trust in their own strength. Verse seven and eight reminds us of how God will take care of us, if we would just put sin out of our lives and trust in Him, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD…”, “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters…” The word blessed means happy. Can you say today you are a happy man or woman? You must be trusting in God. Maybe your not happy, maybe life has been very difficult. Could it be that your heart has departed from the LORD? God is long suffering! There is still time to repent and recover from the direction you may be going. II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” God knows who you are trusting in today. What will your end be? A desert, or a flourishing tree bearing fruit during the days of drought? Only you can decide!
Memory Verse Week 8/3/20
II Chronicles 7:14
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
