January 27, 2025

Vic King
“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. 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. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 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.”
Jeremiah 17:5-8

Do you ever find yourself standing and staring…a bit amazed, somewhat befuddled. The older I get the more I am captured by the combination of those two descriptors and it temporarily locks up my brain.  Coming to mind are two occasions when this happened recently in two opposite scenes.  The first occurred out by Cypress Creek with my back arched and my head cocked back at the foot of Big Daddy, the behemoth Cypress tree in downtown Wimberley.  “How in the world? Amazing.” The second took place on our property.  My head down, hand scratching my head mesmerized by a huge pile of cut down, dried up cedar brush, trying to figure out how to dispose of it in the middle of a no-burn drought. “How in the world? Amazing.”

These are the two conditions that the Lord of creation saw and described to Jeremiah regarding the hearts of his people: dried up dead or nourished, healthy and standing tall.

A man depending on himself, a bush in the wastelands, parched desert, having forgotten his life’s resource, cursed by his misplaced trust.

Another man who understands his dependency, stands tall, deeply rooted, trusts and drinks deep from his life source, no significant worries, bearing fruit to bless all around.

Israel couldn’t seem to stay near the Stream of Life, so they experienced stage 4 spiritual drought. AND YET, God always had his remnant.

He still does.  He may be a bit amazed as he looks on people who should know better, but he is never befuddled.  Sad, I expect, but intent on folding us into his loving, merciful care…as people belonging not to ourselves, but to our maker and redeemer.

I trust in myself or I trust in the Lord.  It’s not complicated.  But it seems I have the choice.