Trust. Is that not one of the hardest topics? Jeremiah 17:5 is a passage I’ve returned to many times: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”
Trust Is Frightening
If you have lived for a while, you know trust is fragile. In my life, I’ve seen friends, spouses, church leaders, neighbors, and family break trust. The words “trust me,” are often used to manipulate and gain. Many betray each other. Therefore, it’s a frightening world to live in.
Those who make their strength and trust in man are “like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. (They) shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.” Good may be very present, but you won’t see it or notice it. There is water to be found, but you will be left thirsting, and for your thirst, there is nothing but salt.
Have you ever been there? I have. Because of this, my inclination is to read Jeremiah 17:5 and say “Good then. The bible says not to trust anyone. To be my own, independent person who doesn’t need others.”
Can We Try to Live Without Trust?
But this is contrary to Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 which says “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
It’s necessary and even good that we rely on each other. And without some form of trust, we can accomplish little and love little. Life is complicated and often frightening, but without community, reliance, and some level of trust, there won’t be much beauty in it all.
So we must read carefully: “and makes flesh his strength.” In other words, the cursed person is the one who will utterly fall apart when others break trust, prove unreliable, or fail. This person has nothing left to stand on or trust in because his heart also “turns away from the Lord.”
A Supreme and Reigning Trust
Contrary to this is Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust IS the Lord.” This man’s supreme trust, reigning above all other trust is in the Lord and is the Lord. It’s trust in a perfect person, one who never sins or fails. It’s a trust that can’t be shattered.
This person is described beautifully, “like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8).
Don’t you want to be like that? To see the sunrise over the desert land and know your roots will stand strong, your well will remain full, your trust ever sustaining you, your fruit hanging ripe on the branches, not withering and rotting away?
Lord, I want to be like him who “is not anxious in the year of drought.” This isn’t me. In fact, it isn’t possible in me; My own resources are too small. Thank God that this kind of trust and strength can only be found in Jesus, and sustained because he never changes or falters.
The next verse is so fitting: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Reality is constantly filtered through our deceitful hearts. Our past experiences and hurts reside there, often skewing our perception of others and our ability to trust them. We shouldn’t trust people foolishly or carelessly and we should never trust them ultimately. Our survival, our faith, can never rest on human shoulders.
Psalm 33:16-17 says “The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.”
God Can Keep Your Heart
Your all depends on the Lord, not on kings, armies, spouses, friends, heroes, or leaders. Trusting in others requires faith in someone far greater than them. We lay our hearts on the line knowing God is the only one who ultimately keeps them. We don’t want to be like those who are cursed, withering and dying under the power of failing men. But we don’t want to be lone soldiers either, walled up in steel cold self-reliance.
Our hearts are often sick, and only God can do the healing. So, open your heart to God today, place your trust in Him. Ask Him to reveal where your hope in flesh is too high, and also where you might be growing cold and fearful. May we trust Him so much, that disappointments wouldn’t wither us, and that we would never lose sight of God’s faithfulness.
