Short Daily Devotions

SATURDAY, 13 MAY 2023

TEXT: Jeremiah 17:1-18

1. “The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel-engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.

2. Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every high hill.

3. So I will hand over my holy mountain- along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines-as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.

4. The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”

5. This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.

6. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.

7. “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

8. They are like tress planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

9. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

10. But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

11. Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools.

12. But we worship at your throne-eternal, high, and glorious!

13. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.

14. O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!

15. People scoff at me and say, “What is this ‘message from the LORD’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?”

16. LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I’ve said.

17. LORD, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.

18. Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don’t let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!

(New Living Translation Holy Bible)

TOPIC: TRUST IN GOD

We must not put our trust in any human being because, apart from the fact that it is offensive to God, those who do so are cursed. Such people will live in the barren wilderness in an uninhabited salty land.

However, those who trust in the Lord and have made Him their hope and confidence are blessed because they shall be well-nourished and not be bothered when drought sets in.

Also, they will never stop producing fruits. The Lord searches the heart of everyone and knows what is loaded therein. He rewards those who are with Him. What is the condition of your heart? If the Lord searches your heart now, what will He find?

QUESTION: The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Does this apply to you?

PRAYER: Gracious Father, please help me never to cast my trust onto anyone, except You. Amen.