Whom Does Your Heart Trust?

5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 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.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
8 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.”

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
    and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

(Jeremiah 17)

This chapter, like many in Jeremiah, is a pronouncement of judgment against the people of Israel. Many had chosen foolishly. Their hope was it in man - be it other governments, their own wicked leaders, or themselves. That's a dead-end street in the desert. But one who trusts in God - even if all by himself - is a well-watered, productive tree that will stand in the greatest of storms.  When we look at those personalities in whom we trust, do we see them as possible of the worst horrors? Do we see in them our own worst capabilities?  Only God is Holy and Pure. Only He deserves our full trust.