Comment on Jeremiah 17

⁵ “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. ⁶ 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.   ⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  ⁸ 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.” 

In Youth Church this term we are studying the World Religions. This past week we looked at Atheism which can be defined as the belief that the assertion of gods is unconvincing. It seems that the Israelites weren’t Atheist because they turned from God to other gods. So they were either pluralistic, accepting other gods alongside Yahweh, or completely rejected the God of Jacob for other gods and pagan religion. Either way, Atheism, Pluralism, and other religions, are a life without the knowledge of our God, Yahweh. 

We can read in Jeremiah 17, the difference between the curse of a man who has turned away from God, and the blessing of a man who trusts in the Lord. Even in the early chapters of Jeremiah, it is quite confronting, and almost graphic, the description of a life that is lived without God. For the common Australian who might consider themselves unconvinced of the reality of a God, they might feel like a shrub in the desert, roaming around in a parched land, not seeing any good coming from their life. And I don’t deny that we might feel like this at times. For even our trust wavers in the Lord. There may be times where you have felt you are roaming around in a desert. Exhausted, lost, thirsty, hopeless. But also, you have experienced blessing from the Lord; water, nourishment, stability and signs of fruit. In both times, may we turn our face to the Lord. And as we do, watch our lives change and become a signpost of God’s goodness for those who have rejected Him. 

Ashleigh