Day 223.
Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is 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.”
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
…
O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. (Jeremiah 17:5-10, 13 ESV)
Those who trust in man (either themselves in terms of following their own hearts, or a government official, spouse, etc) is like a shrub in the desert that will dry up and blow away like chaff (see Psalm 1). Those who trust in the Lord are just the opposite, like trees planted by streams of water allowing them to endure the heat. Why is that? Those who trust in the Lord have “the fountain of living water” to draw upon, while those who trust in their own hearts will find their water dry up. It will not endure.
