Recently, I had the mother of all Mondays. By 11:00 a.m., I was reeling from everything that had happened in the first three hours of my workday. I felt adrift in the storm, unable to get my bearings. And right there, in the middle of it, I had a choice to make. I could affirm that my life belonged to God—and that every problem I was experiencing that morning also belonged to Him—and I could give it back to Him. That choice—the one between gripping the wheel myself or releasing it to Him—is exactly the choice the Bible lays out for us. God does not leave this the least bit ambiguous.
Thus says the Lord: “CURSED is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. “BLESSED is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:5-10
Wow, what a contrast between trusting in God (blessed) and trusting in anything less than God (cursed)!
The Hebrew word for the desert shrub in verse six is “arar”, and it describes a plant that looks like it is surviving just fine even though it bears hollow, dusty fruit inside. That is the perfect picture of the danger of trusting the will of the flesh instead of the Lord. It does not always look like a curse from the outside. A career built on self-reliance or a life built on the strength of my own competence can appear green and healthy for a season. But there is no water feeding it, and a hard Monday exposes the fragility. This curse isn’t even some special act of judgment from God. Rather, it is simply the built-in outcome of trusting in self or others more than in Him.
Many times, I haven’t even realized how much I’m NOT trusting God until trouble reveals it and—for that—I am thankful for the trouble!
But please understand—being “cursed” is not talking about salvation. Our soul, once made righteous in Christ, cannot undo our salvation. What Jeremiah describes is the will of the flesh choosing where to plant its trust. The flesh is the part of us still tuned to the physical, visible world, and left unchecked, it will always reach for what it can see, touch, and control rather than for the God it cannot see or can barely comprehend. That misplaced trust is what makes our lives merely shrubs in the wilderness—alive in appearance but barren in substance and resilience.
The blessed man is described in strikingly different terms.
He is a tree planted by water, roots spreading toward the river, leaves staying green through heat, and bearing fruit even in drought. This image is connected right back to Psalm 1, where the blessed man delights in God’s Word day and night. Peace does not come from figuring life out ourselves, but from resting in God’s faithfulness and releasing everything that causes us anxiety into His hands. The tree has peace in the year of drought—not because the drought isn’t real—but because its life was never drawn from the surface conditions. Its roots reach past what is visible on the surface and tap into a source the drought cannot reach.
My friend, the beautiful thing about this passage is that the Bible turns the mirror on us directly so we know exactly where to look to solve the problem!
Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and only the Lord can search it accurately. (Jeremiah 17:9-10) This is why examining our own source of trust matters so much. We are not always honest with ourselves about where our roots actually run or where our anxiety is actually coming from. Jesus removes any illusion of a middle option:
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” (Matthew 12:30)
There is no neutral row of soil in this passage. Every circumstance, every Monday crisis either reveals our trust in Christ or our trust in something or someone less than Him. Halfway trust in God is not trust at all. Only 100% trust in God diminishes anxiety. We must make a choice. We must be all in with God.
So, I’m challenged to take an inventory of my trust. I want my deepest roots to be in God—not people, assets, or circumstances.
My reaction to my circumstances reveals my roots.
Jesus is the living water, and when I am rooted in Him, my life is not just a blessing to me. I am a fruitful tree providing shelter and rest for others.
When we trust God, He makes our lives an oasis in the desert of this world.
Prayer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my anxieties. Reveal if there is any wicked way in me—any area where I am trusting myself instead of You. Lead me in the way everlasting—Your ways. (Psalm 139:23-24) Show me where my trust is rooted, and if it is anywhere except You, then transplant my roots into Your river that never runs dry, no matter what season I’m walking through. Let me stay green in the heat and fruitful in the drought, trusting You instead of my own strength. I choose to serve You today and hold nothing back. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
