So, why do we need to read the Old Testament prophets anyway? Sure, God’s people may have made sacrifices to all sorts of false fertility gods back then (Jeremiah 17:2), but we don’t practice that sort of primitive religion anymore. And sure, Jeremiah needed to denounce those who cheated and stole from one another (Jeremiah 17:11), but we aren’t thieves. We’re not bad people, right?
Well, that may be what we think. But the reality is that we can’t trust our own thoughts and feelings, especially where it comes to our spiritual condition. For what else did Jeremiah tell us in 17:9? “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”
For the root cause of those Old Testament people’s idolatry and mistreatment of their countrymen was something that remains all too common today: simply turning away from God, and trusting in ourselves, our own judgment, and our own desires. But what did God say about relying on our own reason or experience? “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5). Whether we’re bowing down to carved images or just focusing our lives on ourselves, it’s all idolatry in God’s sight.
By why should those who engage in idolatry be cursed? Because turning away from God is quite simply suicidal. Pulling away from Him inevitably means stumbling in the darkness of confusion, drying up like a bush in the desert (Jeremiah 17:6). In contrast, remaining in fellowship with God means we always have access to His light, His truth and His love. Trusting in Christ means living like a tree planted by a flowing stream, safely nourished regardless of how little rain may fall around us (Jeremiah 17:8), regardless of how difficult the circumstances of our lives may become.
No, instead of relying on ourselves, on our own thoughts and feelings, it only makes sense for us to confess our guilt and our helplessness, our complete dependence on Christ. That’s what Jeremiah did in 17:14 – “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise.” May that be our prayer today.
Jeremiah 17:1-14 (NASB)
The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of their altars,
2 As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.
3 O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders.
4 And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.
5 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.
6 “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.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.
8 “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.
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.
11 “As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool.”
12 A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake Thee will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the LORD.
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise.
