Jeremiah 17:5-8
Poisoning Ourselves

Thus says the LORD:
    Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
        and make mere flesh their strength,
        whose hearts turn away from the LORD.
    They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
        and shall not see when relief comes.
    They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
        in an uninhabited salt land.

    Blessed are those who trust in the LORD,
        whose trust is the LORD.
    They shall be like a tree planted by water,
        sending out its roots by the stream.
    It shall not fear when heat comes,
        and its leaves shall stay green;
    in the year of drought it is not anxious,
        and it does not cease to bear fruit.

New Revised Standard Version

The context of this scripture passage was a message of destruction that Jeremiah had to carry to the people of Judah. They had rejected God for so long they no longer recognized how evil they were. Their prophets and religious leaders lied about God's blessings, content to ignore God so they would please the people. Jeremiah's messages carried such despair because so much was wrong, down to the foundations of Judah's government and religion.

If we are to correctly apply this scripture to life today, we have to change the context. In God's covenant with Abraham and the nation that split into Israel and Judah, God held the priests and rulers accountable for the spiritual health of the people. In our new covenant, through the person of Jesus Christ, we are each a nation of one, with a personal covenant with God. We are our own priests who seek to solve our own problems and ignore God. We have no one else to blame. These four verses, then, spell out our individual choices in stark clarity.

Every day we face dozens of choices where we can choose to trust God or to trust ourselves. Sometimes those choices are so small that we "don't want to bother God with them." Sometimes those choices are so huge that we can't let go out of misplaced responsibility or out of fear. Sometimes we make those choices driven by our emotions rather than our souls. And if there were just these three ways that the Tempter could manipulate us into passing up a chance to choose God's way, it'd be so much easier! Instead, we can be tricked by our strengths, our weaknesses, our knowledge, our ignorance, our sensitivities, our insensitivities... any part of us can cause us to stumble if we take our focus away from following God.

Jeremiah reminds us of how much we hurt ourselves when we do that. Why would we choose to be a shrub in a salty wasteland when we can be a tree by the stream? Those answers sound so foolish, but so much like us! "As a shrub, I am very proud of my deep roots, so much deeper than the ones in trees by the stream." But the roots will fail because the little bit of ground water is poisoned by salinity. "As a desert dweller, I am frightened of the differences by the stream." But those differences are the differences between unnatural circumstances and the intended environment for shrubs. "I am fine, there is no problem," as the sun bakes the remaining life out of the plant.

The answer is obvious, but only when we ask the right questions of ourselves. Are we trusting God? Are we listening to God? Are we following God?