December 5: The answer to feeling cursed

This is what the Lord says: The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed. He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives. The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.  (Jeremiah 17:5-8 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

The Arabah is a section of the Jordan Rift Valley that runs north and south from the lower end of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and further south to the Red Sea. At the Dead Sea the Arabah becomes the lowest point on earth, at 1350 feet below sea level. As it’s name communicates, the Dead Sea has no fish or plant life because of its extremely high salt content. Its saline level is over 30 percent, whereas the saltiest oceans in the world are between 3 and 6 percent. Water from the Jordan River and other smaller streams flow into the Dead Sea, but since it is landlocked, no water flows out. The high temperatures in the Arabah cause the water of the sea to evaporate leaving even more salt behind. So when this passage speak about a juniper tree in the Arabah, this is what it’s speaking about.

Here we see God contrasting the person who trusts in man and the person who trusts in God. One is cursed, the other is blessed. One can be compared to a parched land where no one lives, the other to a tree planted by a stream that is always green and is always producing fruit. The better option is obvious, and yet it’s not easy. It takes real work to trust in God and to derive your confidence from Him.

The dictionary describes trust this way: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

Do you want a fruitful, blessed life? Then you have to have a firm belief in God’s reliability, truth, ability, and strength. This is not automatic, and it’s certainly not a feeling. Trust is a decision. I’ve been trusting God faithfully for 27 years now and I still have to work at it. My father has trusted in God for 60-plus years and still has to work at it. It takes work, but it is well worth it. When we trust in Him we have the boldness and confidence to confront any problem, even death, with the conviction that we are in God’s hands and our ultimate victory is guaranteed.

Don’t be a juniper in the Arabah.