Tree planted by streams of water…
5 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.
6 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.
7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 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.”
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.”
Jeremiah 17:5-8
This passage has spoken volumes to me as I have done some meditating and reflecting on my life and choices I have made along the way. It is clear that one tree leads to life and the other to death; according to where the roots of the tree are finding their nourishment.
Many times we come to the Lord begging Him to heal this, fix this, change this… but we refuse to put our trust in Him and we turn to own strength or put our trust in others to give us life. The enemy is always trying to make us belive that something will give us “life” that is outside of Christ alone; when we give into that lie we wind up empty, wounded, and exhausted. That is the place I am coming out of the past season.
Verse 5 clearly states “cursed is the man who puts his trust in man.” It is easy to have a tendency to look to other people or things to sustain you. The problem is that that person or thing becomes a little “god” that leaves you empty and barren. Verse 6 says he will be like a bush in the wastelands and will not see prosperity when it comes. Putting our trust in anything other than God will leave us fruitless and we can not grow. We have no root that will allow us to grow or nothing to go back to when we try to be nourished by temporay things. We will not see prosperity when it comes because we can’t see what God does, the good things, because we let other things take the place of God and our concern is more about tending to that idol and not willing to surrender and let our entire heart, life, and being, be rooted in Christ alone.
If there is one thing I know about the Lord- it is this: HE IS A JEALOUS GOD!! He is jealous for us; as it says in 2 Cor 11:2 “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.” Looking to anything in the world to meet your needs is adultery and forsaking the true SUSTAINER and LIFE GIVER.
God has removed those things in my life and I have come to a place where I am allowing my roots to be established and rooted in Christ. I am not worried what life brings me or the seasons because I am firmly planted in Christ that does not change. I have the ability to bear fruit regardless of the season because Christ is the Living Water that gives life.
The more I run to God and let Him be the King over my heart the more I can stand in what HE is, trust in who HE is and what HE is going to do. I come to Him with open hands saying I trust you because I know you- you are my everything; my sustanier, my all sufficient God, the supplier of all my needs, my lover, my friend, my comforter.
God will allow those things we put our trust in to dissapoint us so we can turn to Him- the one true and LIVING GOD that does not disappoint.
How do we allow this to happen? He has to become the lover of our hearts; once we believe who He is and what He has done for us and the relationship He desires to have with us… we will forsake all things and cling to Him. We will drink from Him and His well of love where we will never thirst again and will experience the life He died for us to have.
thanks 🙂 that really spoke to me. You’re such a beautiful person!
good word sister. love you 🙂
Marissa, just happened upon this delightful little bit of web tonight looking for a picture of a tree by a stream. I was telling my 7yr old daughter Lucy a story about a tree in the desert & how was refreshed & came back to life. Your blog is a sweet space. Just wanted to say thanks from a SC mom. What you have is precious and so bright. You are truly shining like a star In The midst of a crooked generation.. Write again. Papa loves your heart.
Blessings!
This is the best commentary I have ever read. Thank you for putting words to the thoughts I couldn’t express myself and for feeding my heart this morning!