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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 212

"Whose heart departs from the LORD"

Text: Jeremiah 17:5

TRUST IN MAN

Jeremiah pleaded with the children of Judah to place their trust in the Lord. These pleas fell on deaf ears! The people chose to place their trust in man instead.

“Thus says the LORD:
‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.'”
Jeremiah 17:5-6

1. “Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart departs from the LORD'”

a) This word came from the Lord Himself.
b) The word “cursed”:
i) Not blessed by the Lord.
ii) The state of being cursed would be explained further.
c) “Trust in man”
i) There is reliance on the arm of the flesh.
ii) Reliance on the king, the army etc.
iii) “Strength” is derived from “confidence” in what the eyes see.
d) The heart
i) It has departed from the LORD.
ii) Trust in the Lord does not exist.

2. “For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes,
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited”

a) Compared to a shrub:
i) This is in direct contrast to a Tree (Psalm 1).
ii) A shrub bears no fruit.
iii) A shrub is not significant in any way.
b) A shrub in the desert.
i) It cannot offer shelter.
ii) It offers next to nothing to a weary traveller.
c) A description of a man who trusts in man rather than God
i) He will not see good from the Lord.
ii) He will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness.
iii) He will inhabit land laden with too much salt. This kind of land will yield nothing.
iv) Who would choose to live in the wilderness?
Only shrubs!