Day 318: Shrubs or trees? – Jeremiah 17 vs 1 – 10
1-2 “The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel - engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars. Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill. 3 So I will hand over my holy mountain, along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines, as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. 4 The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”
5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7-8 But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” Jeremiah 17:1-10 New Living Translation paraphrase (English Standard Version link)
In the last Chapter of Jeremiah the people had asked why God was so angry with them. And God's answer through Jeremiah was because they had become even more wicked than their forefathers had been. What were three more reasons we see in vs 1-2 & 5 of today's section?
Their behaviour had become so bad it was as if it had been engraved on their stony hearts! Worse still, they were teaching their children to worship pagan gods too. And they were calling on foreign kings to help them against the enemy who was attacking them instead of turning from their sinful ways and calling on the Lord. God compared them to withered shrubs in a blazing hot desert with no hope and no future. (vs 6)
Look at the contrast between those shrubs and how God describes people whose confidence and trust is in Him? (vs 7-8) It's a picture used in other parts of the Bible too. Trees growing near an ample water supply which endure the hot sun and even times of drought. It's a picture of stability in life. But that's what the Israelites of Jeremiah's day had rejected because they preferred the sensuality of paganism. And, once they had chosen paganism, their lives rapidly grew more and more wicked.
Could the words God spoke through Jeremiah in those days be relevant once more? I suspect they have been relevant in every nation and in every generation. Even after the gospel brought so many positive changes to many nations and things were getting better, we are seeing a swing back to paganism. God's word is being rejected by nations that were being made better by its light. It's very possible that our generation may do worse than our forefathers. And the sadness is, modern psychology (human 'wisdom') teaches that people are basically good at heart and all we need is just better social conditions. But what was God's description of the human heart and why is it important? (vs 9-10)
God says our hearts are desperately wicked. We deceive ourselves and others. We are not basically good people who just need a little help. We are great sinners who need the help that God alone can give. And because God knows the state of our hearts, unless they are changed, we are lost. Where is your hope and confidence today? Human answers or God's word? Are you a shrub in the desert or a tree by a river? Jesus said that it is only in Him that we can experience the life giving water that comes from God.