Who Are You Going to Trust?

I have often offered Jeremiah 17:9 as a warning note about the state of natural man.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)

The truth is most people and even most Christians don't buy that. There are some sick and deceived people but not all. God, apparently, disagrees.

In fact if you examined who was speaking in that verse, you would find it is not Jeremiah; it is God Himself. And the verse is out of the middle of some pretty tough things from the very mouth of God. First, He says,

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land." (Jer 17:5-6)

Note the quotes. It's God speaking. This is not the human version, not someone speaking for God. This is God. "Cursed is the man who trusts in man." Pretty strong language.

"Cursed" refers to those upon whom God has turned His back (Num 6:24-26). It's a bad thing -- no grace, no peace, no hope. It is beyond "unhappy". A shrub in the desert. He "shall not see any good come." Not good at all.

God follows the curse up with a blessing. Understand, here, that "blessed" is the opposite of "cursed" and includes God's grace, peace, and love.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jer 17:7-8)

So, we have contrasted here "the man who trusts in man" (cursed) and "the man who trusts in the Lord" (blessed). Being blessed by God -- His face shining on you -- is all good. It is life and joy and His care for you. It is beyond "happy". Like a tree that "does not cease to bear fruit".

That brings us to God's explanation about why we shouldn't trust in man: "The heart is deceitful." That makes it clear why trusting in man is so foolish and useless.

So the question is for you and me. Do we trust in man or trust in God? Are we expecting help from politicians and presidents or are we trusting in God? Are we anticipating that people will be what we need them to be for us or are we trusting in God? Are we counting on doctors for healing or are we trusting in God? Are we placing our trust in family and spouses, neighbors and bosses and coworkers, and, yes, even fellow church folk to do what is right for us, or are we trusting in God? Based on the curse and the blessing, I would say that the wrong answer here could be really, really bad. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure most of us spend too much time living on the wrong answer. An easy test for which it is would be to ask yourself what your emotional response is when the people you know let you down. If it is "Thank God my trust is in Him," you may be in good shape. If it is anger or dismay, you may be trusting in man. Maybe we all need to work at adjusting where we place our trust.