04/22/18 Jeremiah 17:1-13
This is primarily a prophecy to Judah, but the principles communicated by the Old Testament prophet are applicable to all who have known God and then turn from God.
Take heed
To what you read.
(also see my notes on this passage, in the following comment).
Jeremiah 17:1-13 (I have replaced the "th" suffixes for easier reading)
1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
2 Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
3 O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.
4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou know not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
DLG notes
It is enough that we doodle evil thoughts and sketch wicked deeds into our lives. But sin is never satisfied with a little intrusion into our lives. It wants to occupy the whole of our existence and brand us forever. How tragic when sin has been carved deeply into our stony heart with an iron pen and engraved on our brassy soul with the the point of a diamond, and when we have tied our faith to an altar of rebellion (vs. 1)
God curses the man who trusts in men, the man who trusts his own strength, the man who departs from God (vs. 5).
This rebellious person will be dried up and lifeless and worthless, as a section of salted land produces nothing (vs. 6).
But the man who trusts in the Lord and hopes in Him will be blessed (vs7).
The person who surrenders to God will be like a tree, whose roots are intertwined with the life giving waters of a living river, resilient in extreme heat, resistant to drought, producing green leaves of life, and fruit when death is all around (vs. 8).
Don't trust your own heart, your own thoughts. They are deceitful and will lie to you (vs. 9).
You must look beyond yourself and you must look to the revelation of God. Only He is true and only He is trustworthy. God rules by truth and God rewards according to truth. The only preparation for the future is life lived in submission and trust in God, here and now (vs. 10).
Our plans will fail our work will be nullified, our successes will rot. Only a fool counts on his own accomplishments (vs. 11).
The beginning and the ending of our hope and life is in the God of Heaven. To have hope in this life only leads to an eternity of disappointment, loss and suffering (vs. 12).
Everyone who forsakes the true and living God will be destitute and ashamed. Those who trust in Him will be sustained and refreshed and revitalized as they drink from His fountain of living waters (vs. 13).
