Thursday, April 7, 2011

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD...

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8

Yesterday, I happened to run across that verse, though I remember reading it many times before and always have been blessed by it. I noticed how twice in the first sentence it says to trust in the LORD, which to me seemed to be because Jeremiah is trying to make that point - we gotta trust the Lord. I just love those verses as they speak to me so much. Fear and worry is something I battle a lot, as many others do too I am sure. Lately, in my struggles, the Lord has been really convicting me that worry is evidence that I am not trusting in Him. It is so easy to rationalize my own worry, as it is with any sin, and think, "I'm just trying to figure things out" or "I'm just struggling" Bottom line is I'm not trusting Who I should be trusting, and hence the cause of the worry.

Here in Jeremiah we see so clearly that BLESSED is the man who trusts in the LORD. And then we have the example of a tree whose leaves remain green, even in the midst of heat. I love that, that even when the trials and pressures of life are attacking us, we don't have to let fear cause us to shrivel up and become worry and fear driven. We can be strengthened in the Lord, but we must trust Him and not focus on the fear.

We also see in these verses that even in the times of drought, the dry times where you feel as though you're in the desert, if we keep our trust in the Lord we won't have to be anxious. Even when things are hard and don't seem to make sense to us, we are called to simply trust. It is only when we are trusting that we can still bear fruit for Him. Apart from Him we can do nothing, and that's what worry does...it draws our heart and mind away from Him.

I'm taking a speech class, and so today as I was doing the assigned textbook reading I learned about the importance of communication, and what communication really is. The author explained that noise has a negative affect on communication, because it blocks out the message that is trying to be relayed. The author talked about how noise can interfere and keep the message from having the desired effect. The author explained how noise can be literal, such as a lawnmower, or it can be psychological, such as worry. When our mind is focused on our worries, then miscommunication can occur because we are not focused on what we are supposed to be learning or hearing. I thought about how the noise of our worries can easily drown out the communication we have with the Lord. So often I am guilty of not really focusing when I open up His Word or spend time with Him in prayer, instead I have the noise of my own thoughts, fears, and worries, drowning out His voice. I want to be able to lay all my fears and worries down at His feet, so that I can hear and receive all that He wants to teach me.

These are things the Lord has been showing me, though I am so far from perfect and wish that just knowing this would help my doubtful heart to trust. Praise the Lord for His mercy and grace which He pours out so freely on us every day, every moment. Lord, take this anxious and fearful heart and make it trusting.

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." John 14:27

"God doesn't often calm the storm around the man, but if the man is willing to trust He will calm the man in the storm." ~Unknown