Day 16
Words: Jeremiah 17:5-10 (NLT)
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land.
7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
and desperately wicked.
Who really knows how bad it is?
10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts
and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
according to what their actions deserve.”
The ancient world was always looking for a way to know what was going to happen next. The limited knowledge of what we call science left them looking at bird entrails, animal bones, stars, and many other kinds of “signs.” Their world was full of sorcerers, seers, prophets, astrologers—often called “wise men.” When the young King Solomon asked God for wisdom above all else, he was not asking to become a “wise man” in this sense; he was asking God to help him know the difference between right and wrong, to know what was true and what was false.
In this text, Jeremiah says that those who trust in human wisdom or strength are like stunted shrubs in the desert, while those who trust in God, who look to him for knowing what the future holds, who find their confidence in Him, these people have deep roots and productive lives.
National leaders and those who would be leaders often say they can see, that they know the future, that they are “wise.” They ask for your trust and confidence. In making critical choices, the human heart can be very deceitful. Especially in these times, we should search out leaders who trust in the Lord and not in their own wisdom, their own insights. These are times for prayerful requests to the Sovereign Lord for wisdom to know what is true and false, right and wrong.
PRAYER: Father, because of our frailty, we want to know what lies in front of us. We often follow people who tell us they are wise. Our hearts are deceitful, so we pray for discernment, Father, to know who really knows right from wrong, truth from falsehood. We pray for leaders who trust in you, Lord. Amen.
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