Are you able to bloom where you are planted?
Jeremiah 17:5-8 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
It is too easy to make empty promises, we make them to each other, to ourselves and even to God. You might buy your empty promises and you may fool somebody else but God knows what is going on, promises and sacrifices wont do you any good if you are living in sin and you are not willing to repent and change your ways, he will not be fooled.
God's children loved to do what is wrong and they were suffering for it, they once were very prosperous, like a healthy olive tree that is planted on the riverbank, in their culture this was a very clear image for them to understand. That tree next to the river doesn't care about drought or the heat of summer, it is full of fruit and it's leaves are never going to wilt, it has tapped into a resource that the rest of the trees will envy.
The Lord's people placed their trust in "gods" and the military strength of their allies, they had become like a shrub in the desert, just barely surviving, they had departed from the source of nourishment that would sustain them in the trials of life.
God is faithful
Psalm 52:8-9 But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever. 9 I will praise You forever for what You have done. In the presence of Your faithful people, I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good.The fate of the child of God that is living for him is very clear and it should be full of optimism and joy, it won't always be easy, but there isn't any need to worry when my roots are tapped into the river of life. I can live my life trusting in God's faithful love for me, I will praise him because of his faithful love and I will place my hope in him.
Thank you Lord for your love that gives me the strength to face the future with confidence.
