Jeremiah 17:5-6 ESV
“Thus says the Lord:
‘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.
Did you know that a lot of which was taught in the Old
Testament is repeated for us again in the New Testament? When it comes to God’s
righteousness and holiness, and to his moral laws, which have not changed, the
message is usually consistent between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It may not be worded exactly in all the same ways, but the overall message is unswerving.
We are not to put our trust in princes, in human beings who
cannot save. God’s pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his
delight in the legs of the warrior. The Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in is unfailing love. Our faith is not to rest in the wisdom
of man, but on the power of God. Let no one boast in men. Do not becomes slaves
of men. Be not men-pleasers but slaves of Christ. We speak, not as pleasing
men, but God. So, it couldn’t be more clear that our trust must not be in human
beings, but in God alone (see Scripture references below).
But this isn’t just about not trusting in other humans, for
we are not to make our own flesh our strength, either. Yet, this isn’t saying
that we must go around distrusting everyone, but that our dependency needs to
be in God and God alone and not in humans, and not in our own flesh. We are not
to look to humans to guide us in the way we should go or to solve our problems,
nor should we be relying on our own flesh to make decisions for ourselves and
to guide us in the right way.
For when we do this, we are choosing human flesh over God.
We are choosing the counsel of human flesh over God’s counsel. We are deciding
our own destiny and the way that we should go rather than putting our trust in
the counsel and guidance of our Lord. So when we put our trust in human flesh,
whether it be other humans or our own flesh, our hearts are turning away from
the Lord and we are deciding we know or other humans know better than God. And
no good is going to come from that.
[Old Testament: Psalms 146:3; Psalms 118:9; Isaiah 40:23; Hosea
8:4; Hosea 13:10; Psalms 147:10-11; Jeremiah 17:5-6; New Testament: 1
Corinthians 2:1-5; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9,18-23; 1 Corinthians 7:23; Galatians
1:10; Galatians 2:12; Ephesians 4:14-16; Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 2:8,20-23;
Colossians 3:23-24; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8; 1 Peter 4:1-5; 2 Peter 3:17-18]
Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV
“’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.’”
So, our trust is to be in the Lord. He is to be the one
directing our paths. He is the one we should be seeking after for counsel and
direction. He is the one who should be guiding us in the way that we should go.
Our lives are to be surrendered to him, to do his will. We should not be
walking in the ways of the world and of the flesh of man. God alone is to be
Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. For to this we were called.
I can tell you from personal experience that when our trust
is fully in the Lord and not in other humans or in our own flesh that there is
a perfect peace which goes along with that. There is a calm reassurance that we
are in the center of God’s will, doing what he has called us to do, and he is
pleased with us, and we will be blessed of God for our faithfulness and for our
walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant).
For God is the one who made us. And he had planned out who
we would be even before he laid the foundations of the earth. For those whom he
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. And he
saved us and he called us to a holy calling. And he chose us before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. So,
as he who called us is holy, we also are to be holy in all our conduct.
[Ps 139:13-16; Rom 8:29; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Eph 1:3-4; 1 Pet
1:14-16; 1 Co 12]
Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’”
This is speaking of the human heart. But when we believe in
Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, our Lord begins the process in
us to change our hearts to be more like his. We still live in flesh bodies, and
so we still have the propensity to turn back to that old heart. But as
followers of Jesus Christ, that old heart should have been transformed of the
Spirit of God and made new in the Spirit and it should now be surrendered to Jesus
Christ.
For if our Lord is going to give to every person on this
earth according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds (Romans 2:6-8;
Galatians 6:7-8), and this is a result of him testing our hearts, then
obviously some of us have had our hearts changed by the grace of God and our
hearts are not still deceitful above all things and desperately sick. But they
are hearts that are surrendered to the Lord and committed to doing his will.
But it is true that we are all going to stand before our
Lord one day, and we are all going to be judged according to our ways,
according to the fruit of our deeds. And if what we practice are the works of the
flesh, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. For if sin is what we practice,
and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, then
we don’t know God, he doesn’t know us, and we do not have eternal life in him.
So we need to take this to heart (1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10).
Gift
of God
An
Original Work / October 25, 2016
Based
off Various Scriptures
Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Died for us on a cross;
Conquered death, sin, and hell,
So, with Him, we would dwell.
For, by His grace, we are saved.
He set us free from all sin.
Thanks be to God for His Gift.
Through faith in Him, we’re forgiven.
Holy Spirit of God,
Given to us who believe,
Gives us new life in Christ;
Made to be just like Him.
We died with Christ to our sin.
New lives in Him we begin,
Walking with Christ day by day.
We read His Word, and we pray.
Jesus, He is our Lord.
Follow Him where He leads.
Tell the world of His grace.
We’ll see Christ face to face.
Soon He is coming again.
We’ll be forever with Him.
He’ll wipe our tears all away.
Oh, what a wonderful day!
No comments:
Post a Comment