Jeremiah 17:5-8
“Thus says Yahweh: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be careful in the year of drought, neither will cease from yielding fruit."”
The prophet Jeremiah delivered messages from God to the people of Judah, particularly during a time of political instability and spiritual decline before their exile to Babylon. This passage warns against relying on human strength or alliances rather than on God, using vivid imagery of desert and fruitful trees.
What does it look like to place your ultimate trust in something other than human strength or worldly systems today?