Trust in the Lord for Blessing

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord, he is like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots to the streams, he does not fear the heat of day, for its leaf remains green and he is not anxious in a year of draught, for he will not cease to bear fruit.” 

Jeremiah 17:5-6

Perhaps one of the greatest enemies of our souls is fear.  Fear is that emotion that believes are lives are in some kind of danger or peril.  It is a God given emotion so that if there is a fire in building, fear will motivate me to run.  If I encounter a health problem, fear may motivate me to seek the necessary medical care I need.  But that is not the kind of fear that is an enemy of the soul.

The fear that I describe as an enemy is the kind that believes that there are possible circumstances that lie ahead that may bring me harm and influences me to make decisions that are counter to God’s will for my life.  Instead of trusting God with my circumstances and life, fear of “what if” causes me to take matters into my own hands. 

In Genesis 20, Abraham believed there was some kind of threat to him that caused him to move all of his possessions and family to a place called Gerar, a place that in some way he thought would provide safety.  Perhaps after seeing Sodom and Gomorrah annihilated in Genesis 19 and not knowing what happened to his nephew Lot, Abraham was fed up with God’s promises of a family and becoming a great nation.

Genesis 20 tells us that when Abraham arrived in Gerar, he was willing to give his wife away to the local king, Ahimelech.  And what is crazy about Genesis 20 is that it is a repeat of the same mistake he made in Genesis 12.  On both occasions, as the text proceeds it was clearly that both decisions were not in line with God’s will…

There is a pattern here in the life of Abraham and also in our lives.  Fear of the future can push us away from the will of God and His vision for our lives.  But God is patient with us even in our fears and bad decisions.   We see in Genesis 20 how God intervenes and rescues Abraham and Sarah from a terrible situation that Abraham himself caused.  And finally in Genesis 21, the following chapter, the son God had promised 25 years ago in Genesis 12 is fulfilled.

I believe that God’s word parades before us Abraham and many other saints in the Bible so we can learn and realize that in the messes of life, it is much better to trust God than ourselves.  Our fears and worry can cause us to make poor choices, even sinful ones.  And yet God in His mercy intervenes, draws us back to Himself if we are willing that we may be the kind of people He wants us to be…

Jeremiah 17:1-6 gives us a warning that describes a life that turns from God and a life that trusts God, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who puts his confidence in the flesh, who turns from the Lord, he is like a shrub planted in the wilderness and will not see anything good come, for his dwelling place is in the desert in the uninhabited salt lands… Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord, he is like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots to the streams, he does not fear the heat of day, for its leaf remains green and he is not anxious in a year of draught, for he will not cease to bear fruit.”