Scripture Memory Monday

Last week I wanted to focus on the blessedness of the man who trusts in the LORD

(Jeremiah 17:7-8).  However - though no not so uplifting - I felt the need to think upon 

what it means for one who does NOT put their trust in Him.

"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."

Jeremiah 17:5-6 (ESV)

As I mentioned last week, these verses in Jeremiah 

cause me to reflect back to Psalm 1.

Amid talking about the one who "delights in the law of the LORD,"

this Psalm clearly states that 

". . . .[the wicked] are like chaff that the wind drives away" (1:4b)

And that ". . . .the way of the wicked will perish" (1:6b) 

As Your children, O God, please grant us grace to 

"walk not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners,

nor sit in the seat of scoffers" (Psalm 1:1).

We beg for the grace to fling ourselves upon Christ

and to embrace HIS robe of righteousness; 

 we have none of our own! (Romans 3:10)

For ALL of our hearts are 

"deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; 

who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

We need You, O Christ, for we are desperately sick indeed!

But we humbly praise You that You gave Your life to make us well. 

In Christ, 

the "shrub in the desert" that sees no good 

and "dwells in the parched places" of the uninhabited, salty wilderness (Jeremiah 17:6)

is exchanged for 

"a tree planted by streams of water that yeilds its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers" (Psalm 1:3).

Thank you, Father, that 

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation" (1 Corinthians 5:17)

is not just poetry . . .  

it's reality!

(Though not verbatim, I heard Paul Washer say this before.  I needed the reminder!)