Who are you Trusting in? Jeremiah 17:5-8 Pastor Jim Rademaker When the descendants of Noah settled in a plain called Shinar, they had a plan, a very ambitious plan. "Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Seems like a good idea, no? What could possibly be the harm in building a large tower? The problem - all their effort was for one purpose to make a name for themselves. Here we see humanism in its fullest. Who s completely out of the picture? God. He s entirely absent from their plan. Replacing God as the center of life. Being anthropocentric instead of theocentric. Man-centered instead of God-centered. It first happened where? In the garden, where satan tempted Adam and Eve to shift the center of life from God, to themselves. And we ve been doing it ever since. Wanting to be someone; to make a name for ourselves.
Remember the Titanic, the great ocean liner. They said what about her? "Not even God, can sink her. So confident were they, they didn't even carry a full load of life rafts. And yet, she was taken down by what? A chunk of frozen oxygen and hydrogen. Frozen water. Now there's nothing wrong with technology, per se. It's what we do with it. When our faith, when our hope, when our trust - is in our tools - that which we have made, when we use our technology to reach up to the heavens, to amass fame and fortune, to seize control of our destiny and shake our fist at God, then we are guilty of idolatry. Putting ourselves above God; trusting ourselves, instead of trusting God. (from William Cwirla) Israel did that. That s why God sent Jeremiah. To call His people back to Himself. Israel. Carried by God out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Led to the Promised Land. Fed by bread from heaven. Drank from the rock. Guided by the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. Israel had turned its back on God. They adulterated themselves, turning to the false gods of the surrounding nations. Trusting them to provide. Trusting them to meet their needs. Trusting in themselves and their own abilities
and their own understanding. Making their own plans. Turning to others, to Assyria and to Egypt. Depending on their might and strength to deliver it from the hands of the Babylonians. Jeremiah 17:1-4 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever. Jeremiah continues his solemn and difficult duty of announcing the Lord's judgment on Judah. The message is vivid. Unmistakable. For example, the Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry, because famine and the sword are coming. He instructs him not to go to a house of mourning, because the Lord no longer retains any pity for this people. Nor was Jeremiah to enter a house of feasting, because
the sounds of joy are due to end shortly. To trust in man (mankind, human beings), to depend on flesh for his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. Israel was not the first, and certainly not the last. Such a spirit is alive and well in our world today. Sadly, in our own hearts as well. We see it, perhaps, most clearly in a document called the Humanist Manifesto. It reads: We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of survival and fulfillment of the human race. As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. The next century can be, and should be, the humanistic century.... We have virtually conquered the planet, explored the moon, overcome the natural limits of travel and communication; we stand at the dawn of a new age, ready to move farther into space and perhaps inhabit other planets. Using technology wisely, we can control our environment, conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our life-span, significantly modify our behavior, alter the course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock vast new powers, and provide
humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life. One person put it this way, At the heart of all other world religions including atheism is the belief that at the core of man, he is good. Man builds worldly systems around this belief, and because the foundation is a false belief, the perfect society always crumbles into a violent attempt to maintain control or power. Since the beginning, mankind has always tried, and failed, in attempts to establish this perfect society. (from Pastor Steve Oates) The imagery is clear: Hot. Dry. Barren. Lifeless. A wasteland. A place you don t want to be. A place you won t survive. This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. Whether that s your own strength or the strength of another. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. What happens to a heart that s turned away from the Lord? Having no source of real life, in the end, it never lasts. It shrivels up and dies! The Lord sees to that.
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He 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." A heart independent of God. A heart dependent on Him. Having all that you need in yourself and others. Having all that you need in God. A cursed life. A blessed life. What did Jesus say? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Mt 5) The Patriarchs (the Old Testament fathers of faith, the believers of old) endured perpetual instability, great family turmoil and constant struggle to remain faithful, as they shepherded God s covenant people. The Prophets, including Jeremiah, may have gained favor with a king or two for a time, but the bulk of their lives was lived in dangerous, relentless, and exhausting opposition to the communities they served. They continually came to the end of themselves, the end of their resources. And rarely did it end well for them.
The disciples sat in the front row for the miracles and teachings of Jesus, but did so as homeless, wandering, never-resting nomads, who gave-up everything for their long-term mission trip. The early church congregations were continually surrounded by noisy, hostile cultures, threatening to remove or destroy or compromise them. and yet, they prospered and flourished and bore great fruit, drawing life from the Well that never runs dry. We re most blessed, when we re most dependent on God. "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He 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." Dependent, not upon a chance shower, but upon a neverending supply. A river that s always flowing, having all that we need, especially in times of drought and hardship. Blessed are you when the stock market fluctuates wildly and the resources you re depending on are running low, for God will continue to provide your every need. He will be your life. Blessed are you when things don t go your way, when you ve come to the end of
yourself and all that you re depending on, for God will lead you in His way, where He will bring forth abundant fruit in you. Fruit that will last. Proverbs 3:5-8 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13) 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. (Jer 17:9-10) Hot. Dry. Barren. Lifeless. Dead. Growth. Abundance. Flourishing. Life. A dried up, withering, dying bush. A lively, flourishing, growing tree. Two ways of life. Two outcomes. Looking to the Lord, trusting Him, leads to one.
Looking away from Him, placing your trust elsewhere, leads to the other. Which one are you? Are you cursed or are you blessed? Where s your heart today? Where s your trust? Where do you find your strength, your hope? In yourself? In another? Or in the Lord? Psalms 33 puts it this way, The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.... No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. "Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a
name for ourselves... Replacing God as the center of life. Humancentered instead of God-centered. Maybe your heart has turned away from the Lord? God s calling to you, as He called to Israel. "Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." (Jeremiah 3:22) Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. (Jeremiah 9:23-24) "Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." As you turn back and trust in the Lord, you re like a what? You re like a tree planted next to a mighty stream. Even in difficult times, in times of drought and need, you grow and flourish. How? You re connected to the stream of living water. As Jesus Himself said, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-38)