Confidence and Trust In the Lord

In the ‘90s, there was an unfortunate investment opportunity that turned sour for many Christian and charitable organizations. The name of the organization was New Era. Their intentions appeared to be the best. In addition, they promised to double investments in a very short order of time. Several reputable Christian organizations saw this as an opportunity to get the most usage out of their constituents’ donations.

Some placed their trust and confidence in this possible money-making endeavor a bit too eagerly. Several mission organizations were hit quite hard when the plan didn’t work as promised. From what I understood, the investments were capital fund investments, so no operating money was touched.

Other organizations, chose not to participate in New Era. However, some private donors to those organizations channeled their money into New Era, which cost the institutions funding. So, organizations and individuals misplaced their trust and confidence.

No matter what area of life we are talking about, we must place our trust and confidence in the Lord alone.

Today, we’ll see that misplaced faith leads to destruction; whereas properly placed faith leads to delight and to deliverance.

Misplaced Faith Leads to Destruction. - 17.1-6

Jeremiah 17:1–6 (NASB95)

The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars, As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills. O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders. And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever. Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. “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.

This section of Jeremiah shows just how ingrained Judah’s sin was and how it seemed as though it was locked into their very being. It is a quite sobering picture.

There was a strong trust in the religious life in Judah, but it was an empty trust. Their actual confidence was so strongly based on those things which were against God that their hopes and plans would be dashed into pieces of hopelessness.

The people were so ingrained in their pagan rituals with all its religious overtones that we read that it was “engraved upon the table of their heart and on the horns of their altars.” Because of this horrible sin, defying the first of the Ten Commandments, everything that Judah had would be taken away and given to others.

They could not blame anyone else for this. They could not blame society. They could not blame their upbringing, even though it may have been horrible. They could not blame temporary insanity. They could not plead that they were overpowered in the passion of the moment. Listen to what God says in verse 4: “And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance that I gave you.” The NIV states: “Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you.”

This is indeed quite a sad picture of the depths of depravity and the consequences of sinful behavior. We know, along with the Lord, those times when we have focused upon what we have done and our personal programs and projects, while neglecting worship and trust in the Lord. We know when we place our confidence and trust in the bottom line and only in what we can tangibly see or logically explain. As a result we fail to fully place our trust and confidence in God and His plans.

Even when planning for our future, we can fail to worship the Lord alone. We can dogmatically cling to what we know from past experience as if that was the ultimate criteria for making decisions. A church can even come to the point where everyone begins to worship the god of comfort and contentment with the way things are, rather than placing our worship and trust and confidence in the Lord.

For many, the consequence is not always about losing wealth, treasures, property, etc. Sadly, the consequence that often happens when a church stops placing its trust and confidence in the Lord is that they stop growing. Families who could have and should have been a part of a dynamic, growing church, simply choose to go someplace else.

May God not allow us to be a church which is content to merely exist. We want to place our trust and confidence in the Lord, so that we look forward with expectancy to the great things God has in store for us, as we grow spiritually, as well as numerically.

Properly Placed Faith Leads to Delight. - 17.7-8

Jeremiah 17:7–8 (NASB95)

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. “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.

Many of you may have memorized this section of Scripture in your youth. As a result, you have probably treasured these two verses.

There is such a feeling of God’s blessing on one’s life when we place our trust and confidence in the Lord. We don’t have to fret and worry about the “what if’s” in life. We don’t have to wonder if someone is going to fail us. Our trust and confidence rests in the Lord.

The person who places their trust and confidence in the Lord, places it in the One Who never changes. Listen to the description again in Jeremiah 17:8 ““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.” This person is like a tree because of where their trust and confidence is placed. This person is always able to be nourished because they are not looking for sustenance from any source other than the Lord. This person can withstand tortuous situations and still be found full of joy because their trust and confidence is in the Lord. The Psalmist states, "The Lord is my strength and my salvation. Whom then shall I fear?” The answer to that rhetorical question is that there is no need to fear anyone or anything.

If we place our trust and confidence in the Lord alone, we don’t even have to worry about the future. Our God never changes. He has promised to be with us always. He has guaranteed that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He has gifted us with the comforter and teacher in His Holy Spirit. Because our trust and confidence is in the Lord, we are able to bear fruit. The non-fruit bearing person is the one who is not placing their trust and confidence in the Lord.

But what about those times when life seems to have searched you out, found you in your weak moment, then proceeded to beat you mercilessly? Most of us have experienced this in some form at some time throughout our lives.

Properly Placed Faith Leads to Deliverance. - 17.14

Jeremiah 17:14 (NASB95)

Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise.

This is the beginning of a personal prayer of Jeremiah’s. Here, in this verse, lies the answer to those tough times. We have to go back to what we know to be our only hope. We have to be reminded that we must put our trust and confidence in the Lord alone.

It is then that we can make our next move, based on facts and not on feelings. We can then cry out to God as we read in the first part of this verse.

We need to remember that a lot of times in the Old Testament, physical ailments were directly linked to the spiritual condition. This was not always the case, but was often the situation. Here the nation of Judah was going to experience some dire physical hardships due to her poor spiritual health.

There was an understanding that any healing that occurred came only from the Lord. Any hope of being saved from their enemies would come only from God.

It is that way today. For those who are dying in their sin, they can only experience healing through Jesus Christ. David even stated that when he “cherished sin in his heart, his bones rotted away.” This has even been shown through various studies. When an individual chooses to live a lifestyle of immorality, disobedience to that which is right, a rebellious spirit; then their physical healthy suffers incredibly. In our society today, psychologists and psychiatrists and counselors are making all kind of money as a result of people choosing to live in an unhealthy manner—rejecting God and trusting in their own ways.

However, in order to experience genuine healing, there needs to be a complete reliance upon God. Only through Jesus Christ, can our sins be forgiven. Isaiah stated, “By His stripes, we are healed.” This is referring specifically to a spiritual condition. How does this take place? By accepting what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross at Mt. Golgotha. He willingly took upon Himself all of our sins. He willingly paid the price, the penalty for our sins. You and I did not have to go down death row. We do not have to pay the price for our own sins. Jesus Christ died for everyone who would acknowledge their own sinfulness and place their trust and confidence in Him alone.

When this happens, then you can finish verse 14. For You are my praise.

Ponderings

We could place our trust and confidence in the things of this world, but we’ll be constantly disappointed.

We could place our trust and confidence in ourselves or our traditions or our background. But we’ll be denying the life-giving power and creativity of God.

Or we can place our trust and confidence in the Lord alone. This will make us strong. This will make us productive for His glory.

The only way you can truly place your trust and confidence in God is to take that first step in believing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Life will not be carefree and you will not necessarily be healthy or wealthy. However, you will be healed from the consequences of sin. You won’t have to experience spiritual death. You will have God on your side. You will experience peace and joy that you have never experienced before and will never experience outside of Jesus. You will be able to say to God, “You are the One I praise, for I place my trust and confidence in you alone.”