This week Cheer Up was written and read by Derek Otte.
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 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.
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 17:5-8 ESV
In N. Central Wyoming, between the Bighorn mountains in the east and Absaroka Mountains to the west, lies the Bighorn Basin, a landscape of rough hills and sparse vegetation, with sagebrush the tallest living thing for miles around. There is some agriculture in the area, but it is sustained only by irrigation from the Bighorn and Shoshone rivers running through it. Near the rivers, cottonwoods grow tall and dense, the riverbanks are green and lush, in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.
While there is a certain beauty to such barren, desolate landscapes, they are not places to dwell. They are not places that can sustain life in abundance and allow it to flourish. God, through the prophet Jeremiah, warns his people, and us, that living life apart from Him, relying on our own strength, putting our faith in, and seeking peace from other human beings is futile, and that you actually bring a curse upon yourself when you turn away from God and put your trust in the things of this world instead of putting your hope and confidence in God. The NLT describes this person as a “stunted shrub…with no hope for the future.“
The opposite is true of the one who trusts in God. The Lord calls him blessed because his roots are deep in Him. He has confidence in God and allows God to be the source of his nourishment no matter what because he stays close to the source of life. In the heat of the day, during times of drought, he flourishes and continues to bear fruit because he is close to the source of life, of peace, of all comfort!
So where are you right now in your season of life? Are you the sagebrush, isolated and alone, struggling in a desolate land; or are you the cottonwood, firmly rooted near the banks of the river of life giving water? As human beings, we have one huge advantage over the sage, though we may seem firmly planted where we’re at, rooted down with little hope in a lonely and barren place; we can move! We can choose to uproot ourselves and move near to the source of life and abundance!
Draw near to God and have no fear!
Drink deep, be blessed and bear fruit in abundance!
Remember Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians…
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”-Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT