[5] Thus says the LORD:



"Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,



whose heart turns away from the LORD.

[6] He is like a shrub in the desert,



and shall not see any good come.



He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land.



[7] "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

whose trust is the LORD.



[8] 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 17:5-8



In the Name of Jesus, AMEN.



If there is ever a culture that teaches us to trust in ourselves or believe in our potential, it is ours

today .. You can be what you want, do what you want and often the more unusual or eccentric

your beliefs, the more they are celebrated and cherished or admired. Advertisers, motivational

speakers and even TV preachers have made billions off of this, and yet we are constantly duped

by the belief that somehow and some way, if we just had this or that, or could acquire this

amount of money, or close this particular deal, buy this or that house, car or thing we could

accomplish anything. If we could overcome this or that obstacle everything would be ok. We

work and labor day in and day out for security, trying to work for a freedom from having to rely

on anyone or anything else. With the right amount of will power and motivation, we can do or

accomplish anything for ourselves, our family, our home our future, our retirement, our vacation

and so on. Yet it is to this inwardly focused propensity of all humanity, that the Lord speaks. He

speaks His word to the essence of sin and false worship, declaring that the inward

resourcefulness, or the trust in one's "own abilities" , strength or planning is nothing but cursed.



"Thus says the LORD:



"Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,



whose heart turns away from the LORD." Jer. 17:5



 



Whether we trust in our own ability, plans, savings, earning potential or even perhaps this or

that mechanism, system on being more productive and bettering ourselves, the result is not only

disappointment year after year, resolution after resolution term after term, season after season,

but ultimately destruction. This is the essence of our Original sin to which the Lord speaks

through his prophet Jeremiah, it is the essence of idolatry, a turning away from the Lord and

curved in on itself.



Don't be fooled, Old Adam is extremely religious. He believes, and trust, just not in the Lord. He

uses pious language and speaks of value and ethics and the like very often, but our propensity

towards being turned in on ourselves, or as Luther often called it "navel gazing". Rather than

receiving from our Lord what He so freely and abundantly gives as gift, our sinful nature, or sinful

flesh goes and takes for ourselves what is not given, the forbidden fruit, the lie, that which only

brings death.



The result of this trust in our flesh or man is given by Jeremiah to us in vivid terms:



"He is like a shrub in the desert



and shall not see any good come.



He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land. N -Jer. 17:6



In other words, that which we falsely believe will fix us, satisfy us, improve us, clean us and the

like does exactly the opposite. It kills us, destroys and leaves us empty.