“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is 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)
Let’s skip the guilt trip today. We all have room for improvement when it comes to trusting the Lord and probably most of us will continue to have times when we struggle there. So what is your heat, what is your drought? That is, what leaves you anxious and fearful? What dries up your world and heats up your air? Lost job? Health issues? Political battles? Wars and natural disasters halfway around the world?
How do we remain spiritually fruitful, continue to flourish in the Spirit, in times of trial and uncertainty? We lift up to God our fears, we lift up our anxiety, we recognize when we are merely afraid rather than speaking our fears as reality (as I am prone to). We confess them to God, and release those emotions to him, and then we determine to remember what he has done for us in the past, to remember what he has promised us in his word, remember what he has done for others in our circumstances and in the scriptures, and we determine to take our eyes off the drought and the heat and trust in the living water (per the stream imagery) of God-with-us, nourishing and feeding us with his own flesh and blood.
Lord, as the old hymn says, we pray, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how you’ve proved yourself over and over. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace to trust you more. (Note to my readers: changes to wording are deliberate.) Today, Lord, we are choosing and making the conscious decision to trust you and take you at your word no matter what our circumstances tell us, and we release to you any fear and doubt preventing us from meaning those words (name them here.) We thank you for your healing, we thank you for your cleansing. We thank you for being with us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.