Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Jeremiah Had it Right

 

Jeremiah 17:5-10

(5)  Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.

(6)  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.

(7)  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.

(8)  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

 

No Man or Woman can Save us

In this political season, it is well to remember that if we put our hope in a man or a woman, we are going to be disappointed at best and destroyed at worst.  Politicians make promises that they cannot keep even if they wanted to, and many make promises that they don’t intend to keep. 

 

But the real problem is that when we put our hope in man, Jeremiah says our hearts will depart from the Lord.  Why would that be?  I think it is because putting our trust in a man keeps us from really trusting in the Lord.  In addition we can get so caught up in the political circus that instead of being a holy people (that is, a people distinct from the world and set apart for the Lord’s use and glory), we become like those who are heavily invested in political solutions to the problems of the world.  Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”  I think Paul is saying we become like those with whom we keep company.  Obviously, politicians can have a great influence on our lives.  Most of them are not humble, and they are not truthful.  Many of them are rumor mongers, they are not swift to hear and slow to speak, and in many cases they are railers.   It is very possible that we will become like them if we find ourselves heavily invested in their campaigns.  One way we become like them is to pass along their disinformation as though we know it to be true without personally checking the facts ourselves.

 

The Lord Wants to Save us

The blessed person is the person who has trusted in the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water whose roots are deep and whose fruit is delightful. We know that we all need the salvation that Paul preached in Acts 4:12 when he said, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."  Paul is referring to the salvation that we need as we prepare to meet God for eternity.  But there is also salvation needed at the present time from present problems. 

 

If we look to our politicians to meet those needs and to “save” us, we will be disappointed and our hearts will depart from the Lord.  We can also trust man by looking to ourselves to meet those needs and at some point we will realize that we are not sufficient for our problems.  No matter how rich we are, no matter how many friends we think we have, no matter how industrious we are, no matter how talented we are, at some point we will meet problems that we cannot solve.  Some of those problems will be age related, some will be health related, some of them will be related to mistakes we have made, but we will need to be “saved”.  I can testify by experience that the Lord is ready and able to save in times like that.  We just need to trust Him and not man.

 

The Lord may use politicians and He may use doctors and He may use friends.  But a blessed person has his trust in the Lord.  Everything may not work out the way we would like.  When we trust in the Lord, we may find that our plans are not the Lord’s plans.   However, we will find out that the Lord does bless those who trust Him.

 

We are Different

According to Paul, Christians have their citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  We are sojourners and pilgrims according to Peter (see 1 Peter 2:11).  We are just passing through this world on our way to the home where we truly belong.  Let’s don’t allow ourselves to become like those whose only hope is in the blessings of this world and who put their trust in politicians to get things done.  I think some time praying would be a lot more effective in retarding the evil in this world and the evil in our own hearts than all the time we are encouraged to spend helping those who are anything but “Christ-like” to fix things for us.

 

This meditation is not an argument for or against voting, it is an argument about who we trust even if we do vote.  Just as we trust the Lord even when we go to doctors, we need to trust the Lord even when we vote.  When we start believing everything the politicians that we like tell us and when we start promoting them, we are on the wrong page Biblically.  We who are Christians are supposed to be praying for the Lord’s will to be done and we should be promoting the Lord. 

 

Bruce Collins

 

Meditation for the week of July 24, 2016

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