Hey, Everybody!
Soon after this post is published, I’ll be on a plane to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for this weekend’s Living Proof Live. I love going to the Dakotas so I am filled with joy over the privilege to serve there and anticipating God’s gracious and obvious (please let it be, Lord) presence crowded around us and welling up within us. Please pray for Jesus to be exalted, experienced, and enthroned there and for many to be saved and stunningly delivered.
My Scripture memory selection this week is springing up from my Monday morning reading there in my den at home. I’ve mentioned many times that I use a different translation for my devotional and prayer time so that the words will fall particularly fresh on me and so that, if the reading happens to be a familiar segment, I can’t anticipate it and unintentionally dismiss it. The translation I often use is The NET Bible. I’m going to give you the whole segment I read Monday morning so that you’ll see the verse I’ve chosen this time around in its context. This is Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NET):
17:5Â The LORD says,
“I will put a curse on people
who trust in mere human beings,
who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,
and whose hearts have turned away from the LORD.
17:6Â They will be like a shrub in the desert.
They will not experience good things even when they happen.
It will be as though they were growing in the desert,
in a salt land where no one can live.
17:7Â My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me.
17:8Â They will be like a tree planted near a stream
whose roots spread out toward the water.
It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.
Its leaves are always green.
It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.
It does not stop bearing fruit.
If you are like me, you found the way the NET translates the very first verse (V.5) a little disturbing. You’ll be relieved to know this isn’t the Scripture I’ve chosen to memorize (smiling) but it still needs addressing so that we’re not too distracted by it to engross ourselves in the remainder of the segment. If you’re familiar with the passage, you are probably more accustomed to wording like the NIV: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man.” The fact that the NET makes God the one “putting” the curse on man makes us squirm. Before we let it tie us in a knot and throw us in a lake of fear, we have to remind ourselves of our position in Christ. We have the glorious benefit of living this side of the completed work of the Cross and resurrection.
Galatians 3:13 says to our great relief: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'”
Jeremiah 17:5 is still tremendously relevant to us because it unfolds the misery of counting on mere flesh and blood. I wonder if the “curse” talked about in this verse is of the same ilk as the one in Genesis 3 that came directly from God to man after the fall in the Garden. If Adam and Eve were doing anything at all when they ate from that tree, they were shifting their trust from God to themselves – mere flesh and blood – by attempting to be God-like. Though the Cross of Christ bore the curse for us, we can still endure the desolation that invariably results from placing our trust and confidence in people rather than God. This gets us where we’re going in our post today. Look back at Jeremiah 17:6 because this is the part that totally captivated me.
“They will be like a shrub in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen.”
Read it again if you need to but don’t proceed until you’ve tried to absorb that second sentence. Have you ever been right in the middle of something good happening and yet missed the full experience and joyful impact of it? Surely you’ve said silently to yourself as I’ve said to myself, “I should really be happy right now. What is wrong with me??” You know the feeling. You’re in a celebration or service of some kind or a holiday gathering and yet you almost feel detached from it. You’re there. But you are somehow disconnected from experiencing it. You know “it” (the positive thing presently happening) but you can’t feel it. It’s a good thing but you don’t feel good about it…or in it. What on earth is that about?
Jeremiah would suggest that the experience of good can be disconnected from the good because we are in a season of shifted trust from God to man. When we’ve set our hopes for happiness in how well all our people are doing…getting along…flourishing…affirming us…satisfying us…and all-around-generally-blessing us, and we even get a glimmer of it, we can’t experience the good because we know down deep that we can’t hold onto it. As much as we love all our people, we know that, ultimately, they are not going to come through for us. One shoe will drop. Then the other. The disappointment will come. And the harmony we feel for this moment with our fellow humans could at any second flip upside down into complete mayhem.
Notice the part that says “they will be like a shrub in the desert.” Isn’t it ironic that the more we depend on flesh and blood to come through for us and to fulfill us, the more isolated we become? You’d think that numbers alone would insure company and community. In other words, why derive our strengths and confidences from one God when we could get infinitely more out of all these people? Out of all these communities? Out of all our fellow church members? Out of all our Facebook friends? Our fellow tweeters? Company is one click away.
But it never works that way, does it? We never can let down our guard completely and find any shred of real security from flesh and blood. The person obsessed with us today can turn on us tomorrow and we know it. The person who makes life worth living for us today could die on us tomorrow and we know it. I don’t mean to be morose. I just mean to point out the emotional tightrope we’re walking. Being vastly people-oriented rather than God-oriented always ends up taking us to a place of isolation because they’re invariably busy when we want to play, invariably distracted when we want attention, and invariably more taken with themselves than with us. And so, there we sit, with our trust and confidence in mere flesh and blood and we end up feeling like a shrub in a desert. Just as Jeremiah 17:6 says, “It will be as though [we] are growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.”
Trust in man can seem a great place to visit but no one can really live there and come out calling it living.
It’s so odd to me that the more drawn I feel to God and the more taken I become with His Presence, the freer I am to love other people and the less I hold them responsible for me. Community with God increases our “experience” of good in a community of people. It is its own paradox.
And all of this brings us to the verse I have chosen for my memory work this time around:
Beth, Houston. My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
And what earthly difference would that make? Well, let’s see…
“They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.”
Notice a very intriguing contrast hidden in Jeremiah 17:8 – “It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.”
Reflect back on 17:6b – “They will not experience good things even when [good things] happen.”
When we place our confidence in mere flesh and blood, we are shortchanged even when good things happen. When we place our confidence in God, the Immortal Invisible, we have nothing to fear even when hard things happen. The former leaves us a dry shrub. The latter makes us a fruit-bearing tree.
We never get this lesson learned once and for all, do we? Or maybe it’s just me. I still get so tempted to put my confidence in people and to think that, if all my loved ones were safe, well, and flourishing, I could be so happy. The truth of it is, I do want those things for my loved ones but God alone can come through for them and for me. Anyway, at the end of the day, I could have everything this world could offer and all the good that man could possibly do me and still sit back and think, “Why doesn’t it feel better than this?”
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me.
Let’s hear your verses, Sisters!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Debbie, Sevierville
James 1:17
All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.
Jan
Bemus Point, NY
Psalm 91:1 (NIV)
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of theAlmighty.
Sue
Carmel, IN
For by Him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:16 NIV 84
and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:27 NAS
Tabitha Schenkel
Liberty, NC
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:13 NLT
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being save it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV)
Angie W., Federal Way, WA
The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 ESV
Brandy, San Angelo, TX
“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”
Ephesians 5:2, NLT
Tabitha Schenkel
Liberty, NC
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.”
Romans 12:9 NLT
Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gail, Phoenix
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 NET
Pamela, NewBern NC
And that is what some of you were. But you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God
1 Cor. 6:11
NIV
Susan, Wynne
“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things,
and give me life in your ways.”
Psalm 119:37. (ESV)
Carrie Guion, Wentzville, Mo.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 1 John 4:4 NLT
Laura, Houston: Psalm 31:20 (NKJV)
“You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
Alice Champagne, Marietta, GA
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 NIV
Suzy, Wheelersburg,OH – And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church – NIV Ephesians 1:22
Caitlin, McKinney, TX
“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things, preserve my life according to your word.” Psalm 119:36-37, NIV
Anita
Amarillo, Texas
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the
wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23
NIV
Kristine , Welland ON
It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. Colossians 1:12 (MSG)
Julia Stevens Hill — Anniston, Alabama
Matthew 22:37 NIV
Jesus replied,
“Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and
with all your soul and
with all your mind.”
So good, Beth! Thank you.
Beth, Toronto: “My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me.” Jeremiah 17:7 (The NET Bible)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NIV
Jordan, Columbia, MO. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Psalm 73:25 NIV
Dana
Clarksville, TN
Psalm 138:3 – NLT
“As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.”
Tina from Chesapeake,VA – “For I am the LORD, your God, who takees hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13(NIV)
Prov 4:12 NIV
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.
” For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”
2 Corinthians 2:15 NIV
Martinez, Ga.
Ps.139:23&24 NIV
23 Search me O God and know my heart test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.
Ashley from Dexter, Michigan:
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 NIV
N FORT MYERS, FL
O Lord, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious and sovereign over all the sky and earth. You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all.
I CHRONICLES 29:11 NET
Isaiah 55:6 NIV
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Jill, Williamsburg,
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Psalms 32:3 NIV
Connie – Fulton, KY
The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Ps 145:14 – NIV
Anne from Hot Springs, AR:
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)
Cindy from Sister OR My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
Tara, Kosciusko, MS
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
Belinda from Blacklick, OH
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing”. (ESV)
Lynette – Aurora, CO – Proverbs 16:3 NLT
Commit your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed.
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2 ESV
Debbie Portland, OR
Suzy – Atlanta
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Rom. 8:24-25
Tera Ferguson
Gardendale
Psalm 1:4 KJV
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Donna D, Sarnia, Ontario
“Now to the King eternal,immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen”
1Tim 1:17. NIV
Karen from Indianapolis
Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.
Zechariah 4:6 NIV
Christy, Sunmit, MS; “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20 NIV
Diana from Broken Arrow, OK Matthew 19:14 NIV “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'”
Stephanie Colucci
Dallas TX
Isaiah 54:7 NIV
For a brief moment I abandoned you but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
Madeleine Corrales: He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Isaiah 40-29 HCSB
Diane S. from Chesapeake, VA.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice. ”
Proverbs 31: 8-9 NLT
Elena, Elma, New York
Hebrews 11:1 NIRV
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see.”