Upon the Tablet
Jeremiah 17:1-4 NASB
The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus;
With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of
their heart
And on the horns of their altars,
As they remember their children,
So they remember their altars and their Asherim
By green trees on the high hills.
O mountain of Mine in the countryside,
I will give over your wealth and all your treasures
for booty,
Your high places for sin throughout your borders.
And you will, even of yourself, let go of your
inheritance
That I gave you;
And I will make you serve your enemies
In the land which you do not know;
For you have kindled a fire in My anger
Which will burn forever.
As believers in Jesus Christ,
if we truly have trusted Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, we are cleansed from
our sins, forgiven our offenses, and we are given new lives in Christ Jesus,
free from bondage to sin, to be lived to the Lord and to his righteousness
(Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24).
But, that does not mean we will
never sin again or that we no longer have the propensity to sin. We can and we
do (1 Jn. 2:1-2). If it were true that we could never sin again, we would no
longer be tempted to sin. And, we could clearly throw out half of the New
Testament which warns Christians against falling back into sin’s deceitful ways.
Yet, through our salvation
from sin, we are delivered from slavery to sin so that it should no longer have
mastery over our lives. It should no longer be what rules our lives. And, we
should no longer be enslaved to sinful addictions. Through the blood of Christ,
shed on the cross for our sins, we are able to live victoriously over sin and
walk in his righteousness, all in his power and strength at work within us.
But, sometimes Christians do
fall back into sin’s deceitful ways, and they can get entrapped all over again.
They can become idolatrous, wicked, deceitful, and unfaithful, etc., and be in
need of repentance and restoration to our Lord. They can forget that they have
been cleansed of their sins, and so they no longer have the protections of the
Lord they once had.
Trust in Humans
Jeremiah 17:5-8 NASB
Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
“For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
“For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.
Our trust is not to be in
humans, but in the Lord. This does not mean we go around distrusting everyone,
but that we don’t place our security, our faith, and our confidence in human
flesh, which is subject to fail us, and which cannot deliver us from sin’s
ways, and which will not have the mind of God.
We are not to rely on our own
strength and human wisdom and understanding nor on the strength and wisdom of
other humans, but on the strength and wisdom of God. He is the only one who
should be directing our paths and showing us the way in which we should go. We
should be following his plan for our lives, not the plans of humans.
When we turn to following
after our own flesh, or other human flesh, we turn away from the Lord. We turn
away from his counsel, his guidance, his strength and his power in our lives.
And, we make ourselves subject to the failures of the flesh all over again. And,
we are not at peace. We can’t be at peace because we are living in direct contradiction
to God’s saving grace.
But, when our trust is in the
Lord, even if all hell is breaking loose all around us, we can still be
confident. We can be at peace and rest. We can know we are going the right
direction, even if we have many who oppose us. And we can be confident that God
is on our side, and that we are walking in his wisdom, and he is using us in
the lives of others for their good. And, that good will come out of all that we
are going through, for the glory of God.
The Human Heart
Jeremiah 17:9-11 NASB
“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
“I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.
“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not
laid,
So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;
In the midst of his days it will forsake him,
And in the end he will be a fool.”
When we believe in Jesus
Christ, to be Lord and Savior of our lives, he cleanses our hearts from sin,
but again, we still have the propensity to sin, and we are still tempted to
sin. And, we still have the ability to give in to sin’s deceitfulness and to
stumble and fall.
When we listen to our own
flesh, instead of to the Lord, or when we listen to the lies Satan whispers in
our ears, and we give way to the flesh and/or to Satan, we are like the man who
built his house on the sand instead of on the rock. When the storms of life
come, we will not be able to stand. And, we will come crashing down.
Fountain of Living Water
Jeremiah 17:12-14 NASB
A glorious throne on high from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.
O Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who forsake You will be put to shame.
Those who turn away on earth will be written down,
Because they have forsaken the fountain of living
water, even the Lord.
Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved,
For You are my praise.
So, it is essential that we
ask the Lord to test our hearts and to show us what is in there, i.e. where we
have allowed the flesh and the devil to get a foothold once more. We want him
to expose to us any areas of our lives where we are going astray and where we
have gotten off course, because sometimes we deceive ourselves, and we listen
to lies, and so we can’t see what is in there, because we have desensitized
ourselves to the evil.
But, then we must be willing
to obey what he shows us. We must be willing to give up whatever he says to
give up, and to forsake our idols, and to cut out of our lives all that is
leading us into sin. For, many times we “struggle” with sin and continually
give in to it because we are not willing to forsake what is leading us into
sin.
We are not willing to say “NO!”
to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to say “Yes!” to living
self-controlled, godly and upright lives while we wait for Christ’s return
(See: Tit. 2:11-14).
So, when the Lord searches
our hearts, and he exposes to us anything we have latched on to which is
opposed to him, and which is hindering our walks of faith, then we need to
repent of our sins, and turn, and follow him in obedience and in surrender to
his will. And, then he will bring healing. Then we will be at peace within our
hearts. And, we will know the joy of the Holy Spirit and of walking in
fellowship with our Lord once more. Amen!
Broken and Contrite
An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in
spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.
Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your
Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that
hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.
Monday, July 2, 2018 – Thank you,
Jesus, for this teaching from Your Word. Lord, expose to us where we are
failing to walk in obedience to you, and then give us the strength we need to
walk with you in holiness. Amen!
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