Choose This Day

I came across this the other day while I was looking up a cross reference. Psalm 1 refers to those who delight in the law of the Lord as "a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season." (Psa 1:3) You get the imagery. This tree is planted -- not an accident of nature, but put there by a Planter. This tree is planted by a stream. What stream? Well, the law of the Lord, of course. And its roots go deep. They are nourished and fed by that water. In that nourishment they yield fruit, they don't wither, and they prosper. That's not what I came across. I came across the cross reference.

I have referred more than once to Jeremiah 17:9. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" And I've repeatedly offered it to you in a vacuum. So I was surprised to see the cross reference to Jeremiah 17:8.

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)

Well, now, that's interesting. Jeremiah is talking about the same concept as Psalm 1 here. So I read further. What is this context?

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)

Well, now, that is interesting. What we're looking at here is precisely the same message as that of Psalm 1. If you want to be blessed, if you want to not fear, if you want to "remain green," if you want to continue to bear fruit, then you must trust in the Lord. In Psalm 1 that includes a delight in His Word, but that's almost unavoidable here, isn't it? I mean, if you trust in the Lord, you will trust in His Word, and if that's your heart's direction, you will delight in His Word.

Note, however, the connection. There is a warning against the man who trusts in man -- his knowledge, his counsel, his paths, his wisdom, science, so on and so forth -- to the exclusion of the Lord. There is an encouragement (if I can use such a light word) to trust in the Lord, clearly in exclusion to all those other things that crowd Him out. And verse 9 tells why. Verse 9 tells you the basic problem. Why not trust Man over God? Why not trust science over God's Word? Why not trust studies and consensus and other worldly means of figuring out how to do life? Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.

If your primary foundations on living are man-made, you have a problem. The heart cannot be trusted. Don't expect a good outcome. If you understand that your heart cannot be trusted, it would be best to find a foundation that can be trusted. That would be God and His Word. Anything else is unreliable to the point of being dangerous. From these you will "not see any good come." Your choice.