Jeremiah is full of judgment and bad news. It can be tough to read, but chapter 17 is full of beautiful chunks of wisdom from God, little truths that are incredibly powerful instructions for life.
“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. … 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’” (v. 5, 7-8, NLT).
This is so convicting to my heart. I am a worrier—it’s probably my biggest sin problem. Every time I worry, it’s me putting my trust in myself, or in another person. It’s me saying, “Look at this big problem I have. I need to figure out how to solve it myself.” I do it time and again—and it never works! But each time I put my trust in the Lord, whatever problem I am dealing with just works out. As I have grown in my relationship with God, I have become more practiced about trusting the Lord and not myself or other people, and I see the fruit it brings.
Here’s a recent example: this week, my car’s alternator stopped working. A year ago, if that happened to me, I would have emotionally spun out of control. I knew that it would be financially draining, that waiting for the car to get fixed would get in the way of my work schedule and possibly cause issues for my employment—the worry would go on and on. But this time, I prayed about it immediately. I also asked my beloved Connect Group to pray for me. I was immediately filled with peace—and that, for me, was a little miracle. I have begun to develop a habit of trusting God, which in turn has begun to bear fruit. I pray that it continues to produce fruit. By the way, as He always has, God provided for me, and my car is now fixed, less expensively and more quickly than originally predicted!
Another piece of wisdom in comes in verse 9: “‘The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?’” (NLT).
I have heard so many people say, “I believe all people are basically good.” Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that statement simply isn’t true. In fact, without God, it sounds like evil knows no limits. This isn’t hard to believe—each news cycle brings a new horror committed by man. If we “follow our heart” and do what we feel is right, rather than looking at what God says is right, there’s no limit to the evil possible, because our hearts are, in fact, not “good.” They’re “desperately wicked.”
After that wisdom from the Lord, Jeremiah discusses his trust in the Lord. He says in Jeremiah 17:16, “O Lord, if you heal me, I will truly be healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!”
Jeremiah was living in a world where people were sacrificing for and worshipping to literal idols, but our idols are just as real. For me, as I mentioned above, I have made worry my idol time and time again. I worry instead of saying those words that Jeremiah says, instead of acknowledging what I know to be true: only God can heal my hurts or save me from destruction.
There are other really great words from the reading, and there are also some tough parts to read. We see Jeremiah arrested, whipped, and put in stocks. We see Jeremiah really go through some tough mental turmoil, and he brings his complaints and fears to God. We can do this also. God already knows our complaints and our fears—I have found that when I’m honest with God about how I feel, it helps me more easily trust Him. I spent a lot of my life living in shame every time I made the slightest mistake—it’s kind of like when you’re playing peek-a-boo with a baby and they think if they cover their eyes, they’re invisible. My hiding my innermost thoughts and fears and anger from God doesn’t work. As soon as I acknowledged that God already knows the worst things about me, I felt a freedom and a deeper trust in God.
I’ll skip ahead to chapter 22. Jeremiah is given these words from the Lord to say to the king of Judah, but it’s good for all of us. “This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed: rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!” (22: 3, NLT).
We may not be the kings of anything, but just as following those directions would have brought blessings to the king of Judah, I think those are good directions for us to follow:
- Treat people fairly.
- Help people who have been mistreated.
- Be kind to foreigners.
- Be kind to people without parents.
- Be kind to people who are alone.
- Protect innocent people from being murdered.
This week, I challenge you to find a way to do one of the things above in an intentional way. I look at the work of our Street Ministry and of RMI, and I am so thankful we have service opportunities at our fingertips to follow these words of advice for many of these ideas.
