“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He’s 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 17:7–8
Whoa, what a picture of trust in God and what it looks like in a world of heat and drought. In other words, a world where challenges abound and valleys come, as we all know, in our lives. And there’s a contrast here I didn’t read, Jeremiah 17:7–8. But verse five says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” So when you trust in yourself, when I trust in myself, or in the things of this world, and even ultimately other people in this world, that’s going to lead to curse, not blessing.
Jeremiah 17:7–8 Reminds Us to Trust in the Lord
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” And in this phrase, whose trust is the Lord. Your trust is God. All your trust. All your faith. You’re banking everything on God. And what that leads to is living like a tree planted by water with roots sent out by the stream, that does not fear when heat comes.
See the relationship between trust in God and not needing to fear anything in this world. Even when difficulties come, trust in God. Does not fear when heat comes, because you’re planted by streams of water and your leaves remain green. You don’t get anxious, even in the year of drought.
See the relationship between trust and being free from worry. When you trust in God, in the way Jesus told us in Matthew 6, we don’t need to worry about anything because we know our God will provide for us. And not just provide for us, but he will bear fruit through us. Even when heat comes and drought comes, this tree does not cease to bear fruit.
Oh God, we pray for this kind of faith, this kind of trust in each of our lives, especially when heat comes, especially when drought is around us. God, I pray for people who are walking through challenging days right now, where there are attacks from the adversary in different ways, where heartache and heaviness abound, where people even feel dry.
God, I pray that they would be reminded in Jeremiah 17 today, in this moment, that they are planted by water when they trust in you and they don’t need to worry and they don’t need to fear and that you will cause them, even during these days, to bear fruit, when their trust is in you.
Praying for Help to Trust the Lord
God, we pray for trust in you. For you to be our trust, at every single moment of our lives. That you would keep us, save us, from trust in ourselves or in other things in this world. Even other people, ultimately in this world, that leads to curse. We pray that all of our trust would be in you, today and every day.
We pray all of this, according to your word in Jeremiah 17:7-8. Your promise that we will be blessed when we trust in you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
