Graceful Truth

CHOOSING TO BE BLESSED OR CURSED

November 15, 2024

CHOOSING TO BE BLESSED OR CURSED

 

God is perfect in His mercy and grace but also perfect in His judgment. He gives every man and nation ample opportunity to choose the way God created for them … and that way leads to life.

But if that man is deceived (and we are easily deceived) and chooses against God and His path, then he will bear the consequences of that choice.

THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS

Jeremiah, the prophet, was called to lay this out clearly to his countrymen who were rebelling against God’s leadership in Jeremiah 17. He told them what they were doing and what the results would be either way … a curse or a blessing from God.

If you know Israel’s history, you read this with a sad heart, knowing that their rejection of his warnings in Jeremiah’s day led them into Babylonian captivity for over 50 long years.

 “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.
 
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

 

God has everything to gain by helping us trust in Him. The whole Bible, including all the prophets and voices of both the Old and New Testaments, calls us to come to Him in humble dependence. But in our proud stubbornness, we often refuse.

Evaluate who you are trusting today. Are you trusting in mankind … even your own ability and its meager strength? Here is a way to discern that with one question:

How much do you listen to Him through prayer and His Word?

If you choose to go a day a week or a lifetime without really crying out to God in humble prayer, it is a clear indication you think you can live your life without Him.

The shrewd theologian Clint Eastwood said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Wise is the man who understands his weakness early and lives a life of dependence upon the Root of David. He alone is and everlasting source of life and fruitfulness.

 



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