"Whose Trust is the Lord."

“

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:7 ESV)

Jeremiah’s words were part of a prayer as he confronted the people of Judah about their sin. Judah had strayed from the Lord into idol worship. This verse speaks of trust in two distinct ways. Jeremiah employs a preposition and a single-tense verb to highlight the two different aspects of trust.

First, Jeremiah said, ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” In is the qualifying preposition. It tells us Jeremiah knows that we, as believers, trust in spiritual matters and when. God, through grace, gave us the ability to trust in Christ as our Savior. To trust that through our faith and repentance, we are made righteous. The preposition in refers to location and time. It relates to greater distance and space. This preposition refers to spatial time, serving as a temporal indicator. The preposition “in” connects “trust”, a part of our beliefs and faith, to the Lord from whom it originates.

The latter qualifier, “Is”, refers to the present tense. It is a single-tense verb used when referring to a third person. In this case, Jeremiah refers to the Lord as the only source one can trust. It refers to the current time, the here and now, where our trust is in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our trust.

In the case of Judah, they had placed their trust in idols and their asherim, or sacred posts, set near altars on hills and fields far from the proper place of worship. This misplaced trust led to their downfall, angering the Lord because their trust was no longer in Him; the Lord God Himself was no longer their trust.

Today, we see this in our society. A large population trusts in the Lord. They trust in themselves, idols, false teachers, and so on. They do not acknowledge God; therefore, God is no longer their trust. As such, the words of Paul in Romans 1:28 ring especially true: “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

Who is your trust? Is it the Lord? Or have you placed your trust elsewhere, in mediums, the horoscope, money, drugs, or alcohol? These are all fleeting, worldly things that can never provide the security and peace that the Lord can. Like Judah, our society has gone astray, drawn away from God by idols of all shapes, sizes, and objects. The enemy is no fool; he uses greed, coveting, and immoral desires to lure the children of God away from Him.

There is nothing or no one you can place your trust in who will never fail you except our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the obedient Son of God and willingly died that you might be reconciled to God the Father. Have you placed your trust in Christ? Do you trust Him to be the propitiation that paid for your sins past, present, and future? Do you trust that your eternity has been sealed in heaven, worshiping God when you are finished in the temporary world?

If your answer to these questions is no, I pray that you will consider the assurance of salvation that can be trusted for those who place their faith in Christ Jesus as their Savior. This salvation is not a distant promise, but a present reality that you can claim today. Do it today, for there is no guarantee of a tomorrow for any of us.

Grace and Peace!