Cursed Is the Man and Blessed Is the Man
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Cursed Is the Man and Blessed Is the Man
We do it to ourselves. We are so fickle and untrustworthy. What’s the matter with us? One minute we lovingly acknowledge that God is almighty and takes care of all of His creation. The next minute our faith has a little test from some sort of worldly and ungodly philosophy, some sort of belief system, some sort of trouble, or some sort of temptation — and we quickly fall apart at the seams.
Instead of tightly holding onto the eternal truths of God and trusting Him, we are running scared and thinking we’ve got to consider that maybe this other belief system just might be true and we’ve got to be politically correct about it — or that we’ve got to look to another person for help — or that we’ve got to get what we want our own way because God hasn’t given it to us yet.
We are flip-flopping. And that is not good for us because we’re allowing ourselves to be pushed around by this world’s influences. We need to be allowing ourselves to get strengthened in God’s word and truths.
God has something to say about our fickleness because He has proven over and over since the beginning of time that He alone can be trusted. Our fickleness shows a lack of faith and love. So God says in Jeremiah 17:5-8,
Thus says the LORD,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.
For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.”
We do it to ourselves. Look at the differences God describes between the one who quickly loses faith and the one who allows God to strengthen his faith and trust in times of trouble.
The one who loses faith can’t even see when God tries to send something wondrously good his way. He refuses to accept God’s blessings and evidently does not feel they are good enough. Because his heart is not trusting in the LORD to lead and guide, he might as well be living in the salt deserts. He feels hardened in self-imposed bitterness.
Completely opposite is the man who trusts in the LORD. He is compared to a tree planted by the water because God is constantly supplying him with the spiritual nourishment he needs. There can even be “a year of drought” — that would be really tough trials and temptations, but this man’s trust in the LORD brings him through it all. Because of his trust, he will still bear all the fruits of faith, hope and love.
Jeremiah speaks about how all these temptations to lose our trust in the LORD are something we will constantly face in this world. So, Jeremiah puts his faith in the LORD by saying in Jeremiah 17:14,
Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved,
For Thou art my praise.
And it needs to be the same for us. Only the LORD can heal and save us from all of the conflicts and temptations we are required to face each day on earth.
As we look to our loving Redeemer for healing and salvation, we say, “Hallelujah! Lord, blessed be Your name for being our Refuge, our Rock, and our Fortress in my every trouble and temptation. You alone can save.”
Love,
Margaret
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A Christian devotional to glorify the LORD of lords and God of gods
This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
The word of the LORD is tried;
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
Psalm 18:30
Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
Psalm 33:1
How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house!
They are ever praising Thee.
Psalm 84:4
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Psalm 103:13
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalm 107:1
Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
Psalm 105:3
Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that
I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12
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