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):
17:5 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.
17:6 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.
17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me.
17:8 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
Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17, NIV
Susan Sarver, St. George, UT
“Teach me Your way O Lord and I will walk in Your Truth; Give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your Name.”
Psalm 86:11
Sarah, Fort Worth, TX
“If you are too lazy to plough, don’t expect a harvest.”
Proverbs 20:4 CEVUK00
I’m going wtih Beth’s that was a good word for my heart!
Mikelan Overland Park My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
Sandy E.; Kansas City, Missouri; No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1:5 NIV
emi, white house: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” John 7:38 ESV
Lori, Friendswood, TX
Psalm 19:10 (NIV)
“They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”
Lisa Garland, TX My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me. (Jeremiah 17:7 NET)
Jess R, Katy,Texas
Test all things; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 NKJ
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5, ESV
oops.
Bethany, Spring, TX
Barbara Severns, Eagle, Idaho
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:9-12 NASB
Olivia, Madison, MS
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21 ESV
Megan from Potlatch, Idaho; “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7 NIV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12 ESV)
Amy, Houston:
I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do.
– John 17:4 ESV
Kaye from Hamburg,AR “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ” (Philippians 2:3, 4 NIV)
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NIV Jennifer Mosher, Canfield, OH
J.J. Ehr, Longmont, CO
James 1:26-27 NIV
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Ellen – Stoughton, MA
Daniel 2:21-22 ESV (Beth’s Daniel study, loving it & being changed by God’s grace as I work through it … no daughter of Babylon will I be.)
He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with Him.
Midland, TX
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15 (NIV)
Sarah B
Portales, NM
Psalm 4:8 ESV
“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out is 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 17:7-8 NIV
Jill E., Export, PA
Nell, Gallatin -Matthew 5:11-12a NIV
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me . 12) Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven,…
Denise from Toledo
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Gillian, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Even to your old age and gray hairs. I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:6 NIV
Conyers, GA – Psalm 56:11 KJV – In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what men can do unto me.
Soni in Gulfport, MS Proverbs 23:23 (NCV) “Learn the truth and never reject it. Get wisdom, self-control and understanding.”
Psalm 40:13 NIV “Be pleased Oh LORD to save me; O LORD, come quicklt to help me.”
Nicole Turnquist from Selden, NY
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 NIV
Roxie, Jerseyville, IL 1 John 4:18-20 ESV
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone say, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
Jamie, Coupeville
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, NKJV
Debbie from Holbrook, NY
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV
“Do not give way to fear.”–1 Peter 3:6 NIV
Cara from Houston,Tx
Love and truth bring forgiveness of sin. By respecting the LORD you will avoid evil.
Proverbs 16:6 NCV
Andrea; Cartersville,GA: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV
Michaela, Overland Park, KS
Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, “Rivers of living water will flow from his heart”. John 7:38 (NLT)
Bonnie from Dacusville, SC
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:11. NIV84
Psalm 84: 2 NIV
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Paulette P. Mays
Elmer, La
Kelly, Jackson, MI
“How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.”
Psalm 65:4
NASB
Mary from Columbia, PA
You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope. Psalm 119:114 NLT
Cindy Gandy
Hazlehurst, MS
Philippians 4:5 NIV
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Mikala, boston,
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12.12 NIV
Deborah, Hartsville,SC; “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.” -Psalm 103:11 NASB
Taylor
Elma, NY
2 Samuel 7:28 (GWT)
“Almighty Lord, you are God, and your words are trustworthy. You promised me this good thing.”
GOD LOVES YOU! 🙂
Linda, Little Rock, AR Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB
Christina, Lancaster, CA
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you; as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1 ESV
Susan, Houston, The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. Psalm 111:7,8 ESV
Debbie, Jacksonville, FL
Psalms 51:10-11 NKJV
Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation, and wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
Isaiah 33:6 NIV
Carolyn
Oceanside Ca
Amanda, Van Buren, AR
“Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go. Deuteronomy 1:26-33 NASB