Bible League: Living His Word Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD."— Jeremiah 17:5 NKJV Who do you trust — the Lord, or people? The question pertains to the kind of trust mentioned in our verse for today. That is, it pertains to religious trust. Religious trust is the kind of trust you put into practice in the final analysis, when all is said and done, and at the end of the matter. It's the kind of trust you give on an unqualified and ultimate basis to that which you take to be worthy of such trust. Religious trust is something more than the kind of trust we ordinarily place in created things. Everyone places trust in created things — more or less, from time to time, and on a limited and qualified basis. Indeed, you have to do it. For example, you have to trust the person you hire to fix your car. You have to trust your spouse to be faithful. You have to trust the alarm clock to wake you up at the right time. You have to trust all sorts of things. Our question, however, is not about ordinary trust, but religious trust. Who do you trust over and above everything else and in an unqualified way: created things, like people, or the Lord? When it is put in this way it is difficult to believe that anyone would ever place religious trust in created things. Created things, people in particular, are just too untrustworthy. You have to trust them on occasion and from time to time, but not on an unqualified and ultimate basis, not without checks and balances. Nevertheless, that's what our verse for today accuses some people of doing. Some people put religious trust in people. It's pathetic, really. But what else can they do? If you reject the Lord, if you depart from Him, the only focus left for your religious trust is something created. The only focus left is something not worthy of religious trust. You're forced to elevate something created to a God-like status it doesn't deserve. Actually, it's worse than pathetic. It's downright sinful. It's the sinful focus of religious trust on something not worthy of it. Moreover, it's the failure to glorify and honor the One who actually is worthy of religious trust. (Romans 1:21). It's the failure to glorify and honor the Lord. That's why there are curses for doing it. You can't disrespect the Lord God of heaven and earth and expect to get away with it. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingIsaiah 65, 66 Isaiah 65 -- Judgment; Salvation; New heavens and a New earth NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Isaiah 66 -- Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; Rejoice with Jerusalem NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Thessalonians 1 2 Thessalonians 1 -- Thanksgiving for Faith, Love, and Patience NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!Insight The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Spirit produces these character traits that are found in the nature of Christ. They are the by-products of Christ's control—we can't obtain them by trying to get them without his help. Challenge If we want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us, we must join our lives to his. We must know him, love him, remember him, and imitate him. As a result, we will fulfill the intended purpose of the law—to love God and our neighbors. Which of these qualities do you want the Spirit to produce in you? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 1 Samuel 15:22 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.Saul had been commanded to slay utterly all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he preserved the king, and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did it with a view of offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel met him at once with the assurance that sacrifices were no excuse for an act of direct rebellion. The sentence before us is worthy to be printed in letters of gold, and to be hung up before the eyes of the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond of the fineries of will-worship, but utterly neglect the laws of God. Be it ever in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the path of your Saviour's command is better than any outward form of religion; and to hearken to his precept with an attentive ear is better than to bring the fat of rams, or any other precious thing to lay upon his altar. If you are failing to keep the least of Christ's commands to his disciples, I pray you be disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of attachment to your Master, and all the devout actions which you may perform, are no recompense for disobedience. "To obey," even in the slightest and smallest thing, "is better than sacrifice," however pompous. Talk not of Gregorian chants, sumptuous robes, incense, and banners; the first thing which God requires of his child is obedience; and though you should give your body to be burned, and all your goods to feed the poor, yet if you do not hearken to the Lord's precepts, all your formalities shall profit you nothing. It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a little child, but it is a much more blessed thing when one has been taught the lesson, to carry it out to the letter. How many adorn their temples and decorate their priests, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord! My soul, come not thou into their secret. Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'1 Kings 1:36 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, "Amen! Thus may the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say. Isaiah 65:16 "Because he who is blessed in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight! Hebrews 6:13,16-18 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, • For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. • In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, • so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. Revelation 3:14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 2 Corinthians 1:20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Psalm 72:18,19 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. • And blessed be His glorious name forever; And may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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