Keep trusting.

   I ended my last post unusually, I normally would not do that, but I had early (10:30am) class and had to get shut eye. x_x

   I ended it by questioning my self and where I am in my life if all this time I have been a culprit in trusting in humans. I know that trusting in humans is bad, and God definitely doesn't like it. I also know that I can learn and turn away from that sin (trusting in humans) if I learn from the ultimate teacher; God!
   What I have learned from him through Jeremiah 17 will forever alter my life. I read it and read it some more and I am in constant awe of the truth that he speaks through this scripture.
After He convicts me and points out all the faults in trusting in mere humans, He gives me a proper way to trust. THE proper way to trust. Which forturnately for us, does not have anything to do with humans.
God says: 7“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD

and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

8They are like trees 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.

 Those who trust in the Lord are the COMPLETE opposite of those who trust in mere humans. It is clear and says it in the word of God. You dont need some girl like me to point that out. 

But I honestly think contrasting these two extremes can truly change the way you think about trust and how you go about trusting God. There is a lot of goodness that comes with it. What better way to realize that , than to hear it straight from God. 

Now , I really love that He starts off verse 7 with the word "But". It is obviously a transition word that breaks up two sections and contrasts them, but it gives you a hint that, what He is about to say is valuable learning information.  Blessed. Not cursed. Blessed are those whose trust is in the Lord. 

Trusting in the Lord is obviously NOT an easy task. If it was, welp, most of us wouldn't struggle in our day to day lives. Not simple, not effortless. But the result of doing it is a blessing. Isn't that good to hear!! I know it is for me. I work hard every day, surrendering my life to Him, and putting my trust in Him, it's a hard task, especially because I want to have control. But when all is said and done and my hard work and your hard work is done, we are blessed! We aren't cursed or punished. But graciously blessed by the Lord by trusting in Him. Not that we deserve it or anything, I just thought it was cool how our hard work pays off because I know im constantly complaining how hard it is to trust God. Well I am sure now that If it was easy, the "blessed" part of that first verse would not be there. Blessings do not come with a lack of passion and hard work.

   But are blessings the real fact of this matter? I would have to disagree. What about that false hope we talked about in the first verse ( last post ). Is it stil lingering? Well of course not. The God of the universe would not leave us stranded with a false hope about our future or anything for that matter. This scripture says that he actually gives us CONFIDENCE. Every time there is availability to have confidence in something God ordained, take it!! Having confidence about a future that even we ourselves can make seem so dull and maybe scary is definitely a win! Im sure confidence is a touchy subject for a lot of people... and can end up leaving us feeling self-conscience more than anything. But I believe that the Lord has something bigger than the trap we set up for ourselves. He wants to instil confidence in us, in me! That by trusting completely in him, our future is bright, hopeful and above our own standards.

  I think the fact that God related this topic of trust to a tree, in verse 8, is genius. -Well obviously it is, God is a genius.- Anyways, I think it is such a good example because it has to rely on God alone to live. A tree must trust God to provide all of its needs in order for it to do its job. And this is exactly how God paints the picture about the results of trusting in Him. 

   First he talks about how those who trust in Him are like the trees planted along the riverbank with deep, deep roots into the water. The water is one of the trees main sources!! If you just picture yourself in place of the tree, you too will be amazed.

The tree is never bothered by the heat or worried by the drought. I mean, why would it be? Why would I be worried? If my trust is 1) In the Lord Almighty,and He has 2) planted me with deep roots to my source (Him). EVEN WHEN drought comes, and maybe is there for awhile. EVEN WHEN you are stuck in a dry season and you dont "hear" God. Can you not still hold onto trust and know that God is with you forever? Your trust connects you to God.--- leading my to my final point about bearing fruit. 

   With ALL of that said, why would we EVER stop bearing fruit? If we are connected to the source through trust!? The trees leaves stay green and it always bearing fruit. Not just sometimes when it feels REALLY connected to God in some special unordinary way or only when there is a downpour of rain. Through all of the factors just mentioned ; A drought, unbearable heat, worry and feeling unstable. This tree. Me and you. Can trust God so much that nothing can come and interfere with our ability to grow, be who we are in Him and bear fruit. There are plenty of excuses you can give yourself. "Oh this is just a bad season." "I am not really feeling God" "I get distracted easily and lose my focus" "I have got a long way to go with my walk with God". ALL of those things could be true. They could. But what has God called those whose TRUST is in HIM?! Blessed, connected to him, fruitful, assured, hopeful and confident. <<< THOSE outweigh any excuse you could ever bring to Him. 

Let's recap:

Trusting humans = Cursed, Hearts turned from God, Lost, No hope for the future, and Stunted growth.

Trusting God= Blessed, Connected to God, Assured, Hopeful and confident, and Fruitful

If you get anything from this blabbing, GET THAT ^^^^^^^

This scripture is close to my heart and helps me trust my King more and more each day as I hope it will help you!

God bless yall.

Trust...

I havent posted in a while, but its fine, because that's not what really matters.

   Im just gonna jump into Jeremiah 17. I remember first discovering this verse my junior year in "Gatekeepers". A leadership group I was apart of at my youth group. Well, I discovered it at home, but continued to share it at church. I was pretty fascinated by it and believed EVERYone should hear about it and I told a pretty good amount of my friends about it. But of course when you tell someone something that exciting , they usually dont have the same feeling. 

  Anyways. From the first time I read it, until now, this scripture has blown my mind. It, to me, is the epitome of trust in the Lord. 

   The first section of chapter 17 talks about the Sin of Judah. How many times have I heard that before... way too many. Well anyways, God is pretty upset at them because they're worshipping idols, a reoccurring theme throughout the Old Testament. So you know, when you start to read this chapter, its like okay yeah, "heard it all before".

  But it IS important. To me it shows that all of this punishment the people of Judah are about to receive, is not because God is mean. Nope. It is because the heart of those people is with their idols. 
The very first verse says :  “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."

Where does God want our hearts? With him. Not engraved with sin. No.

 Anyways the next section is where I start to slap myself in the face.

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

   Foreal? Seriously? This is one of the many straight up scriptures, I have read. (I havent read everything obviiiiiii)

   God, the Lord Almighty, call those who put their trust in humans...CURSED. Like dang... cursed?!?! Thats on a whole other level to me.  But its sooo true. When you put your trust in a person/human the only result is a curse.  When you rely on human strength, the only result is a curse. When you turn your heart away from the Lord in order to do that, the only result is a curse. People are people.HUMANS. Humans are literally the authors of imperfection. We are. We fail all the time. God made two perfect people and they failed. They were literally just from dust and a rib. The most miraculous event that could happen, by the Creator of life. And they became almost instantly imperfect and cursed generations to come.

   So God is right. (duh) Trusting in humans is a curse. Even more, its a stunt to our growth and hope. Thats what I see when I read verse 6. We are like stunted shrubs in a desert. Our growth within the Lord is stunted, there is no way we can grow with Him if we dont even trust in Him. They have no future hope. What kind of hope for the future can man give you? May seem legit when someone makes  a promise. But its 99% of the time a false hope. Not intentionally, but remember, humans are humans. And we fail, miserably and as much as we want to give each other a future hope, the hope will never really be what it is meant to be. A barren wilderness to me, seems like a place of no direction or guidance, a place where someone would go and become completely lost and thirsty. I believe that when our trust is placed in humans, that is where we are led. If you are trusting in a mere human, you are trusting in their failures and following their footsteps. You are being led into the wilderness. Not the good serene kind. The confusing and unsettling kind where God's voice is no longer audible and his direction no longer clear.

   This scares the daylights out of me. All of it. If I have been trusting in humans for maybe even a little, where am I on my way to? Barren wilderness? No hope-land? A cursed life?

I'm not sure. But stay tuned ;) 

Goodnight folks.