Jeremiah 17:5-8
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
With Hearts Rooted in the Lord, We Will Not Only Survive but Thrive
Do you know what the mission statement of our church is? We actually print it on the back cover of our bulletin every week:
St. Peter Lutheran Church exists to help everyone stand more firmly on the Spiritual Rock, Jesus, so that we faithfully and energetically share his lifegiving water with the community and the world through our words and actions.
It’s a bit of a mouthful, I’ll grant you that, but that’s why we abbreviate it to a short catch phrase:
Standing on the Rock – Sharing the Living Water
Whether you know the Bible or not, I think anyone can understand the first part of that phrase, or at least the essence of it. “Standing on the Rock” means that you have a rock-solid foundation.
“Sharing the Living Water,” on the other hand, is a little more nuanced and niche. If you don’t know the Bible, you might think that we’re the Culligan Man, selling water softeners, or that we’re a landscaping company that specializes in rock fountains.
The truth, of course, is so much more profound, and it’s based off passages like the one we read from Jeremiah today where he contrasts the person who trusts in man’s strength with the person who trusts in the Lord. One is like a bush in the wastelands. The other is like a tree planted by water. One is going to struggle every day and is going to dread every piece of bad news and fear every threat that could possibly come. The other is going to confident and resilient and unworried even in the face of severe affliction and certain danger.
The contrast is clear enough. Where we fit in this picture is a little more complex. We’d all love to say, “We’re like the tree. We’re believers. We’re in church. We trust in the Lord.” But do you know who else said the same thing? The people of Judah in Jeremiah’s day. They went to synagogue every Saturday. They called themselves believers too. But really in their heart of hearts they were little better than bushes in the wasteland, and the prophecy that Jeremiah had to share with them was a perfect example.
God had sent Jeremiah to be the bearer of bad news. Babylon was coming. The biggest, baddest bully in school was coming for their lunch money. And God said that he was going to get it. Babylon would conquer Judah and carry its people into 70 years of captivity across the desert in a foreign land. That’s what Jeremiah was sent to say.
The way the people of Judah reacted showed exactly where their hearts were. They didn’t turn to the Lord. They turned away from him. They put their trust in man and drew strength from mere flesh. They tried to a make deal with the Assyrians and the Egyptians, of all people, to protect them.
Now, maybe that doesn’t mean a whole lot to you, but remember who the Assyrians and the Egyptians were. The Egyptians were the ones who enslaved the Israelites for 400 years. God had to send Moses to miraculously save them from the Egyptians. Now they wanted to crawl back into Egypt’s arms.
The Assyrians were the ones who totally destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, literally wiping them off the face of the map. Those tribes – Judah’s own family, 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel – never returned, never recovered. And rather than turning to God for help, the remaining people of Judah tried to make an alliance with the Assyrians and the Egyptians, even though God had sent his prophet Jeremiah and pleaded with them to return to him.
Their hearts were like bushes in a wasteland, looking for water in parched places, in a salt land where no one lives. They were far from those fearless trees planted by streams who have no reason to be scared when the heat comes. They were terrified and must have felt like they were hanging by a thread.
Of course, we don’t live in ancient Judah. Babylon’s armies aren’t marching toward our borders. But there are plenty of troubles on the horizon. We have more than enough reasons to be afraid about what might happen next, as a nation, as Christians, as people. There are viruses with variants that threaten our life and health. There are politically motivated policies and protests that threaten our way of life and our mental health. There are laws and legislations being pushed through parliament that endanger our spiritual way of life, even threatening jail time for people who express belief in what the Bible has to say.
The danger is different but it’s just as real and it’s just as scary. How we react to the danger is what determines whether we’re a bush in the wasteland hanging on by a thread or a tree planted by the water who fears no threat.
Where does your confidence come from? What is it that enables you to face danger without fear?
When the doctor delivers the diagnosis you’ve been dreading, what’s more comforting to you – that there’s a treatment and a possible medical cure, or that your God loves you whether you live or die, and invites you to cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you?
When money is tight, what’s more comforting to you – that your next paycheque is just a couple days away, or that your God loves you and promises to provide your daily bread?
When you face rejection, hatred, even persecution for what you believe, what’s more comforting to you – that we live in a country that promises to protect the right to our free expression of faith, or that your God loves you and includes you in his kingdom?
Now, don’t get me wrong. Medicine, money, even our MLAs can be wonderful resources to use in this life. But they are not the reason to be confident. They are not the source of our strength. They are not the things that will enable us to weather the storms ahead. That distinction is God’s alone.
And yet, how many times don’t we put our hope and confidence in medicine, money and MLAs? How often aren’t we devastated when the treatment doesn’t work or when the petition that’s circulating doesn’t change anything? How often doesn’t it feel like life is hanging by a thread and if the one thing that we’re hoping and praying for doesn’t happen, it feels like everything is going to fall apart?
That’s what it feels like to be a bush in the wasteland. That’s what life looks like when you trust in man and draw strength from mere flesh while turning our hearts away from the Lord.
But that’s not what God has called you to. He has called you to be like a tree planted by water, to trust in the Lord, to find your confidence and comfort in him. Then, and only then, can your life be truly fearless and fruitful. Then, and only then, can you go through life without worry even in a year of drought and heat.
That’s the thing about the bush and the tree that Jeremiah mention here. They can go through the exact same external circumstances. One will wither, one will thrive, not because one is hardier than the other, but because of where their roots are.
The tree is planted by the water. It sends out its roots by the stream. It doesn’t matter how much the sun beats down. It doesn’t matter how dry the wind is. It doesn’t matter how many days go by without rain. If the tree is planted by the water, it will always have enough not only to survive but to thrive and be fruitful and fearless.
That’s what God promises you when you put your trust in him. It doesn’t matter what diagnosis the doctor delivers. It doesn’t matter what your chequing account reads. It doesn’t matter what the most recent fear-inducing news headline is. If you put your trust in the Lord, you will not only survive but thrive and be fruitful and fearless.
And while this promise becomes yours by faith, it does not become yours because of your faith, and that’s a big difference. The bush in the wasteland can have the deepest, longest, thickest, most fibrous root system, but if it’s not planted by the water, it’ll do no good. The tree can have the thinnest, shallowest, shortest root system, but if it is planted by the water, it’ll live and grow.
The point is that it is not the strength of your faith that matters. What matters is what you put your faith in. Or, rather, whom you put your faith in.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.
As many things as man can do – as much hope as medicine, money, and MLAs can give us – there is one thing that they cannot guarantee: the future. But God can, and he has. He doesn’t promise you that there will never be any heat or that there will never be any drought. But that’s the thing about blessedness. It doesn’t depend on any external circumstance. You can be blessed even in the most miserable conditions because blessedness is being filled with the love of God.
God loves you so much that he sent his Son into this same world filled with fear-inducing headlines and dangers on every horizon for you. Jesus willingly went through life unfazed by and unafraid of the threats to his life. Even in matters of life and death – whether he was on a boat at sea in a storm or on trial for his life in Jerusalem – Jesus didn’t start frantically bailing water or desperately pleading his case. He prayed to his Father in heaven and put his trust in the Lord. Even while he was hanging on a cross, he didn’t summon a squad of angel soldiers or save himself as he had the power to do; he committed his life into his Father’s hands and died for me and you.
We’re the ones who all too often put our trust in man. Jesus never did. But he’s the one who suffered the curse that we deserved and gave us the blessing that his perfect trust had earned.
That’s why you can put your trust in the Lord. That’s why you can know that you are blessed no matter the circumstance of your life, because you know how much God loves you. He sacrificed his Son for you to give you hope and a future. He loved you enough to give his life for you, and to give you life, not just someday, God-willing in the distant future, when you go to heaven, but here and now through every threat and danger that looms on the horizon. With your hearts rooted in his love and made resilient through faith, you will not only survive but thrive and be fruitful and fearless.
Again, that’s not a promise that you won’t suffer. That’s not a promise that the heat won’t come. It’s a promise that when the year of drought arrives, you can and you will endure because God has planted you by the lifegiving water of his Word.
So drink deeply, dear Christians, and stay thirsty. Remain rooted in the good news of God’s love for you in his Word – be diligent in your personal devotions and persistent in your daily prayers – and you will know blessedness, you will know God’s love, all the days of your life. Amen.