Trust the Lord!
For our spiritual meditation today, let us consider the Book of Jeremiah, specifically Jeremiah 17:7 (Authorized King James Version), “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” In the Book of Jeremiah we can read the pronouncement of God’s Judgment on the people of God by the preaching prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells God’s people about God’s judgement because of their wickedness.
Also known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah had strong words of warning of a prophetic nature. But he also had a message of hope. And if we look at the seventh verse of Jeremiah, we see that there is practical advice for both the Israelites of old and present-day Christians.
The lesson scripture points to how to find and maintain hope when there are situations that challenge the very notion of hope being available, let alone trying to imagine things will get better.
We are encouraged from the lesson Scriptures to:
1. Trust the Lord! Trust the Lord only. You cannot make man your strength, honoring man above God. Doing this will automatically cause the heart to depart from the Lord! What you love you will treasure. If we prefer man’s ways and opinions over God’s way. We may look good on the outside. The fruit may even look good, but the fruit will be faulty and provides nourishment for no one.
2. The next pearl of wisdom from the lesson Scripture is to answer the question of what will He do for you? He will exalt you! Your spiritual eyes will become so protected when devastation comes upon the land you will be covered with the covering of hope and even doing the time of drought, you will continue to bear fruit! This fruit will look good to the eyes and will provide nourishment for the one who bears it and for the ones that are fortunate enough to partake of the fruit!
Even in the tough times and the times that may drain you physically, you are fruitful in holiness and good works! This time can be compared to a person being forced to live in a place of drought and suddenly, a fountain of water starts to flow from an unexpected place, bringing cool water to a parched situation and reviving the person to go on a little farther. Trust God! He will exalt you even in the “dry times.”
3. Now we come to the question of how do we trust Him. Humble yourselves under the guidance of God. Put your hope in the Lord. In doing this, you acknowledge that the strength is not in your flesh. When Christians are in a challenging situation and when we fully recognize that we cannot keep on doing the same old thing to get new results, we talk with God about our feelings and about the challenges.
As His children, we tend to employ Proverbs 3:5-6 (New International Version): “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Let us meditate on these things so that we can learn to place our trust firmly in the Lord.
St. James AME Church is located at 360 Dorothy Street in Charleston and worship service is held on the first and third Sundays of each month at 11 a.m.
