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):
17:5Ā The LORD says,
āI 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.
17:6Ā 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.
17:7Ā My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me.
17:8Ā 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.Ā 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
Anne, Simpsoanville, SC “For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption – the Spirit producing sonship – in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba! [That is] Father! The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.” Romans 8:15-16 The Amplified Bible
Candy Seale La Grange, Texas
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him Colossians 2:6 KJV
Stephanie, Vicksburg, MS
But He poured His grace over me, and I was flooded in an abundance of the grace and faith and love that can only be found in Jesus the Anointed. 1 Timothy 1:14 (VOICE)
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
Psalm 16:3
Amy, Hood River, OR
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spiritās power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on Godās power. 1Cor 2.1-5 The NET Bible
Sorry so late! Been vacationing in a remote cabin with no internet. It was blissful!:)
Melanie – Decatur, AL
James 1:6-8 NIV
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Alicia
League City, TX
For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
For the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26, NKJV
Erin in Euless, TX
Lamentations 3:21-22
“But thereās one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: Godās loyal love couldnāt have run out, his merciful love couldnāt have dried up.”
Sandy, Niamey, Niger, W. Africa
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you Lord have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:9-10 NIV
Kelley, Raleigh, NC
Sorry this is late, but I had conputer troubles!
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Eph 6:17 NIV
Melissa, Midlothian, VA( late, just had a nice long family vacation)
Proverbs 22:28
The Message (MSG)
4
28 Donāt stealthily move back the boundary lines
staked out long ago by your ancestors.
Tammy of Chesapeake Va. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17 NLT
Allison Ashton – Houston, Texas
Im Behind š but have memorized.
14 and 15 memorize verses:
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid in secret when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”
Psalm 139: 14-15 – KJV
Nancy, Sanger TX
All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything. 1 Cor.6:12 (ESV)
Caty from Stockbridge, GA – Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evile day, and having done all, to stand ~Ephesians 6:13 KJV
Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:2 NIV
Christi, Newnan, GA My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
Jackie UK
I have been poorly and have missed a verse therefore I am now posting two:
July 15th: Psalm 20 verse 7 NIV
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
But we trust in the name of The Lord our God.
August 1st Psalm 52 verse 8 NIV
But I am like an olive tree
Flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love,
For ever and ever.
“Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.” James 1:2 NSAB
Kelei Liggett. Iowa Park, Texas. PSalm 46:10 NIV “Be STILL, and KNOW that I Am God;
I will Be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted among the earth.”
James 2:15 NLT
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,
(I think I already posted this, but I couldn’t be sure. Sorry!)
Barb~St Cloud, MN~”The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy and with my song I praise him.” Psalm 28:7 NIV
Dusti Pugh
Carthage, TX
Psalm 37:5 ESV
Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act.
Nikki L. Littleton, CO
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
Lynette, Nashville, TN:
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV
Hannah | Oklahoma City, OK
…”Lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
Ephesians 4:1, NLT
Stacey, Tomball, Psalm 103:15-17
The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lordās love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their childrenās children
Susan, Oak Ridge Tn
My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.
Jeremiah 17:7
NET
Amen.
Col. 2:6-7
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. NIV
Kristi, Rowlett, TX
“My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me.”
Jeremiah 17:7 NET Bible
Ramona Gellick
Medina, Ohio
Jeremiah 17:7 (NET Bible)
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me.
Melissa, Scarborough, ME: “I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.” Hosea 2:20, ESV
Chris, Yukon: My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 NET
O God, You are my God. I will look for You with all my heart and strength. My soul is thirsty for You. My flesh is weak wanting You in a dry and tired land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1 NLV
Amy- Custer, SD
7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me.
Jeremiah 17:7 NET
Claire, Houston, Psalm 27:14 NIV, Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Becky
Westerville, OH
“Arrogance leads to nothing but strife; but wisdom is gained by those who take advice.”
Proverbs 13:10 HCSB
Kay from Deer Park:
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
Susan, Overland Park, KS
“The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; he makes my feet like hind’s feet and will make me to walk (not to stand still in terror, but to walk) and make (spiritual) progress upon my high places (of trouble, suffering, or responsibility)!
Hab. 3:19 AMP
Paula from Denver, Co
Exodus 20:4 The Living Bible
You shall not make yourselves any idols:
any images resembling animals,birds,or fish.
“When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”
Psalm 94:18-19 NIV
Jenni, San Diego, still plugging through Psalm 37–love to recite it every morning! Stepping it up so I can get through it before the end of the year—verses 20-22: “But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the Lord,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.
The wicked borrows and does not repay,
But the righteous shows mercy and gives.
For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,
But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.”
Jeri- Lynchburg, VA. Proverbs 27:12. NIV. “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
Leigh Ann
Gallatin, TN
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23 KJV
Cheya. Houston. “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:21 ESV)
Tara, Greensboro, NC
Brothers and sisters, focus your thoughts on things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and commendable. If there is anything that is good and worthy of praise, fill your minds with these things.
Philippians 4:8
EXB
Glenna, Cumberland house, saskatchewan “The Lord says, āI will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalms 32:8 NLT)
Ashlie McDonald, SLC, UT
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
Psalm 91:15 ESV