The Curse of Trusing in Man

Scripture: Thus says the Lord:

"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited."

Jeremiah 17:5-6

Observation: This is another example of how we love and therefore learn certain bible verses, but not others that are just as important. The companion to this is verses 7-8, which describe as blessed those who trust in the Lord, and are like trees planted by stream that withstand drought and wind, and prosper with good fruit. The alternative is to trust in man ... those who do are cursed, like a shrub planted in the desert that struggles for its very life.

What does it look like to trust in man, instead of the Lord? It would look like what Judah looked like to Jeremiah ... and what the United States looks like today:

-- Caring about court rulings in matters of personal justice
-- Creating laws that alter and define societal morality
-- Debating with great intensity about political sides and opinions
-- Arguing about how to protect children from random violence in public settings
-- Celebrating intellectual achievements in science and technology
-- Relying on warcraft to defend us from terrorism and foreign hostility

All these behaviors are outright normal on a day-to-day basis in our society, and all of them begin with the concept of completely relying upon fully secular human judgment. Our society today is ... just a bunch of cursed shrubbery living in the desert, barely figuring out how to live, with no hope of truly thriving.

Application: Do those of us of faith - those in the universal Church of Jesus Christ - look any different than this? Do I look any different than this?

We pay too much attention to ... supreme court rulings, gun control debates, foreign warmongering, congressional hearings, technology advances. What we should do is simply pray into everything with the simple statement Jesus gave us, 'thy will be done'. The Lord can heal, protect, lead, and rule. There are churches in the world who do this, I feel, like those in the far east, and Africa. They are persecuted or marginalized to the point that they have no other influence but prayer. They cannot engage in 'issues' so trust God will engage.

Of course, most of our 'western' churches won't disengage from reliance on the ways of man. That does not mean I shouldn't do it.

Prayer: Lord, today and every day, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.