Thursday, September 2, 2010

Getting our heart right

Good morning friends,
Today's reading from Jeremiah could come right out of the Psalms. Through Jeremiah, God compares trusting God to trusting in human things. The foolish trust in themselves, in wealth, or in other material things. The wise put their trust in God, and because of that they thrive even when things get rough or go wrong. Jeremiah's words are beautiful, with striking images that almost show the lesson he is trying to communicate. I particularly like the image of the heart being perverse and devious. Sometimes our desires fool us or make us see the world in twisted ways. No matter how we fool ourselves, God is not fooled. God sees what is really in our hearts and through God we too can unwind the lies that make us do what our better part doesn't want to do. May we seek God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and may we come to be like a deeply rooted tree beside the living waters.

God bless,
Sam

Jeremiah 17:5-11

5Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. 6They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.



7Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.



9The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? 10I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. 11Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools.

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