*Jeremiah17:5*: _"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.'"_ *- (NLT)*
Imagine you are drowning and someone throws you a dry stick to hold. You hold it tightly, but the stick breaks. You sink deeper. That is what happens when you trust in man. Man is a broken stick. Only God is a solid rock.
In the text above, God is not saying you should not respect people or receive help from people. God uses people to help us. But God is saying, don't make any man your source. Don't put your total confidence in any human being.
This is simply because man is limited. He can only do what God allows. Man can change. The person praising you today can forget you tomorrow. Man can die. And when he dies, your hope dies with him if your hope was in him. When you trust in man, your heart slowly turns away from God without you knowing.
*Trusting in man brings a curse, not because God hates you, but because you have disconnected yourself from the Source.*
It is like removing a fish from water and putting it on a chair. The chair is not cursed, but the fish will die because it left its source. If your joy rises and falls because of what a man said or did not say, you are already under pressure. Your heart is in the wrong hand.
The people you are worshipping are also looking for who to worship. Even your helper needs a helper. That is why only God deserves total trust. God may allow men to fail you so that you will learn to look up. Sometimes disappointment is God's redirection.
- *You cannot say you trust God and at the same time you cannot sleep because a man has not replied your message.* Who really is your God?
_"But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence."_ *- Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT)*
Verse 5 is cursed if you trust in man. Verse 7 says blessed if you trust in God. Verse 6 says the man who trusts in man is like a dry shrub in the desert - no fruit, no future. But verse 8 says the man who trusts in God is like a tree planted by the river - always green, always fruitful, even in drought.
Same life, different source.
Father, forgive me for putting men in Your place in my life. Today I return my total trust to You. You are my source, my hope, and my confidence. Let men be channels, but You remain my Source. In Jesus' name. Amen.