TRUST IN THE LORD

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord
their hope and confidence.
They are like trees
planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat

or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT
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Just before today’s passage Jeremiah said, This is what the Lord says: “CURSED are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.” Then in absolute contrast he writes, But those who TRUST IN THE LORD and have made the Lord their hope and confidence - THEY ARE BLESSED.”

Trusting in the Lord – that is, focusing our hope and confidence in Him is at the very heart of experiencing God’s blessing as we go through trouble. Some of you are living examples of this truth. In hard and frightening times your hope and confidence has remained strong because you are planted along God’s riverbank and your roots reach deep into the water.

All of us have learned that Trusting in the Lord does not mean that we will be spared difficult and hard times in this life. In fact Jesus tells us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Whatever He allows us to go through, if we continue to trust Him, and keep our hope and confidence deeply rooted in Him, will actually work out for our good.

Trusting in the Lord not only assures our survival, but enables us to live an abundant life even while we are hurting. Because our roots are deep in God’s water supply our leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Seeing the promising comfort of our green leaves, hurting people are drawn to us. By God’s grace we will have opportunity to let them know where our hope and confidence is rooted. To the degree that we keep trusting in the Lord, we will continue to produce fruit - not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought that may yet cross our path. The bottom line is, we will be BLESSED!

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Thank you for being a faithful visitor to our blog site over the past few years. We have truly enjoyed meeting you here. Your email replies and the comments you posted have been a real encouragement to us. However, we believe the time has come for us to slow up a bit. So beginning with September, as the Lord provides, there will be just two posts a month.