I want to speak to some things today, and bring some encouragement from the word. Because I heard the Lord saying that he wanted to inject some faith into his people. We are so inundated and saturated with nothing but bad news, and confusion, and it creates feelings of hopelessness, and stress, and anxiety.
So as I was praying and meditating on what he wanted to say to us today, he shared some things with me that I believe will be a great encouragement to us.
As I was thinking about all the insanity that is happening in our country, and in our state, I felt the same feelings of frustration and anger, and despair that so many people have felt and are feeling.
But I felt the Holy Spirit imparting something to me. It was like an injection of hope. I call it a dose of hope.
I want to help you today to take your medicine. I want to help you get your dose of hope.
So now let’s look at our text for today….
Jeremiah 17:5-8 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Dear friends, we have to remember that as Christians we are not like everybody else. Yes we’re in the same world, but we are not of the world.
We’re supposed to know how to function in this world, without being mastered by the world.
So as I am being slapped in the face with all the crazy stuff our government is doing, I hear something in my spirit today and here it is…three words. “It doesn’t matter.”
Tell your neighbor… It doesn’t matter.
That is so powerful; I feel that the Holy Spirit wants to vaccinate us today with a good dose of… It doesn’t matter.
The devil wants to get us under the circumstances and get us all weighted and burdened down with all the negative circumstances of life. But the Holy Spirit wants us to learn how to live independent of, or I should even say on top of the circumstances.
It doesn’t mean the circumstances are not negative, and it doesn’t mean that we are in denial of the circumstances. It just means that we are empowered to rise above the circumstances.
Paul said it this way: Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:11-13
Basically Paul was saying… I live in the land of it doesn’t matter. I have learned how to live independent of, and above the circumstances, through Christ who strengthens me.
*It doesn’t mean there aren’t hard times, it just means, it doesn’t matter.
*It doesn’t mean I don’t feel pain sometimes, it just means, it doesn’t matter.
*It doesn’t mean that I don’t get disappointed sometimes; it just means it doesn’t matter.
*It doesn’t mean that the devil never attacks me; it just means it doesn’t matter.
*It doesn’t mean that I always have everything I want; it just means it doesn’t matter.
*It doesn’t mean things always turn out the way I want them to; it just means it doesn’t matter.
Paul says… I can be up or down, it doesn’t matter.
I can have abundance or lack, it doesn’t matter.
The economy can be booming, or the bottom falling out of everything, it doesn’t matter.
Somebody else said the same thing but he used different words… It was Habakkuk the prophet. He said it like this…
Habakkuk 3:17-18 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
So let’s inspect this so we can get the full meaning of these powerful words of Habakkuk. He starts by saying, although. or we could replace that word with…even if. Or we could even take it all the way and say… “It doesn’t matter even if.”
Now he lists the things that most people would consider the most catastrophic things that could happen in life.
*The fig tree shall not blossom.
*There is no fruit in the vines. Meaning no wine, which was a source of joy.
*The olives aren’t producing any oil.
*The fields aren’t producing any thing.
*The flocks are cut off from the fold, meaning for whatever reason, disease or theft, etc
the flocks are gone.
*No herd in the stalls either for food source, or for labor.
Today we might say…
*Even if we just received the worst doctors report ever.
*Even if the spouse just filed for divorce.
*Even if you lost your job after 30 years, and all your retirement.
*Even if God forbid, your house just burned down.
*Even if you lost a loved one.
*Even if you we’re just betrayed by someone you trusted with all your heart.
Any one of these things alone would be considered a great calamity, and a source of grief and suffering.
Yet the prophet says (although) which means, even if every one of these horrific calamities were to all strike at once… It doesn’t matter.
• Not that I don’t care.
• Not that I won’t feel the affects of it.
• Not that I won’t miss my T-bone steak, or my hamburger.
• Not that I won’t miss my lights because I have no oil… But it doesn’t matter.
In other words what the prophet is saying is whether everything is going great, or every thing is going to hell in a hand basket, I’m going to praise the Lord.
• He is saying, hell may empty itself at my door step, but praise will open the door and step over the top of it.
I’m not saying I won’t get wet when it rains, or I won’t get cold when the electric goes off, but it doesn’t matter.
Somebody wrote the song that goes like this… I will praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord. No matter what tomorrow brings, or what it has in store, I will praise the Lord.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean we’re exempt from problems, from hardships, from trials, and tribulations. It doesn’t mean that you will never suffer loss, or never have a broken heart… But it means we learn how to live from a higher place. From the heavenly places of, “it doesn’t matter.”
Don’t mis-interpret what I’m saying. I’m not saying…
• I don’t care.
• I’m not saying it has absolutely no affect on me.
• I’m not saying that I am impervious to pain.
• I’m not saying I won’t ever fall down.
• I’m not saying I won’t ever cry.
• I’m not saying I won’t question why?
What I’m saying is… I will trust him, I will praise him anyway.
It doesn’t matter.
You see this is the real battle. The devil is after your joy, and he is after your praise. There is nothing more confusing, more debilitating, and more humiliating to the devil than for him to throw his best shot at you, and instead of backing up, backsliding, and going into deep depression, you square your shoulders, lift your head, and lift your voice and give God praise.
I will tell you right now, there is unbelievable power in a midnight praise, just ask Paul and Silas.
One misconception many people have is that praise has to be joyful or pretty or it’s not really praise, and it’s not really powerful.
That’s not true… Job is probably the greatest example of this in the Bible… He had lost everything, including his health. But instead of cursing God, he worshipped God.
Was it a pretty praise? No it was an ugly praise, but it reached the ears and the heart of God, and in the end God restored Job double for his trouble.
So now let’s take a good look at our text…
Jer 17:5-8 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Ok let’s look at these verses: It starts by saying “Thus saith the Lord.” Not thus saith Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or prophet so and so, or pastor so and so.
This is God talking: And God pronounces a curse on the man that turns away from God, and puts his confidence in the arm, or the strength or the ability of flesh.
That means that he trusts in anything a part from God. Money, people, technology, medicine, doctors, lawyers, etc.
It doesn’t mean that these things are evil in themselves, it just means when these things take the place of trusting God with our hearts that we bring ourselves under a curse.
Then continuing on:.. The person who takes their trust away from God, and places it in the arm of flesh… he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Gills Bible commentary says. The heath is a low shrub, fruitless and useless; because it neither bears fruit nor seed. It is reckoned among unhappy plants, and such as are condemned or forbid religious uses; and very fit to represent such persons as put their trust in men and in themselves, and in the arm of the flesh and not in the Lord.
Notice what the Bible says about the heath in the desert, or specifically, the man who trusts in the flesh, and not in God.
(He will not see when good cometh) and will dwell in a dry place.
This means that the person who is leaning to the arm of the flesh, and whose heart is not trusting in God, will live in a spiritually desolate place. They will be far from the presence of God… no joy, no peace, no favor.
And the goodness of God will be hid from them. Notice it doesn’t say the goodness of God won’t come. It just says… When it comes, they won’t even see it.
Which means, they will not perceive it. In other words, it can be raining blessings all around them, but they will be living in the atmosphere of perpetual drought.
While God is pouring out his blessings, they will be dry as a corn shuck, because they will not have the capacity, to perceive or receive what God is doing.
So the goodness of God will be manifesting all around them, but they are living in the land of drought. Rain is falling all around them, and they’re complaining about how hot, and dry and desolate and miserable it is.
Why? Because their eyes are blinded to the goodness of God.
But I love the next part, because this part is talking about me.
God says… Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
The LVG Bible says it this way… But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,with roots that reach deep into the water. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
So…
• Blessed, happily favored, and fortunate are those whose hope and trust and confidence is in the Lord.
• These trees are planted along a river bank.
Which means they are in a place of continuous and abundant supply. But then it says…
• Their roots reach deep into the water.
• The water represents both the Spirit and the Word of God.
What is it like for these tree’s that trust in the Lord, in contrast to the shrubs that put their trust in the arm of flesh?
• These trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.
• Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
Here is what I want to bring to our attention to today. The trees and the shrubs both are in a natural sense enduring the same physical circumstances or conditions.
Notice that it says these trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by the long months of drought. It doesn’t say the heat doesn’t come, or the drought doesn’t come.
What it does say is “It doesn’t matter” We the trees that are planted by the rivers of water, who have a continual supply of the Spirit and the Word, are not like the useless fruitless shrub that can’t perceive when good comes.
We’re just the opposite. We’re tapping into the goodness of God, in the middle of the drought. Right there in the midst of the heat.
Our roots have found the source of strength and refreshing. We have learned how to seek out the anointing and the presence of God.
So again, what is the ultimate result of these who put their trust and their confidence in the Lord?
• Their leaves shall always be green, and they will never be fruitless.
So this is what I heard the Lord saying about this. He said in 2024, my people must trust me more.
He said there is going to be a clear line of distinction in 2024 between those who are trusting the arm of flesh, and leaning to the arm of flesh, and those who are trusting in the Lord.
He said those who are leaning to, and trusting in the arm of flesh, are going to be…
• Cast down.
• Disappointed.
• Confused and bewildered.
• In a continual state of frustration.
• They will have no joy, no peace, and they won’t even recognize the good things that
God is doing.
• They will put everything in the same basket, and still nothing will satisfy them.
I’m not the one who said that, God is the one who said it.
On the other hand, those who are trusting in the Lord, and are dwelling in his presence, and living by his word, they are going to be…
*Joyful.
*Confident.
*Expectant and at peace.
*Walking in divine favor.
*Fruitful.
*Productive.
*Thankful.
*They will have spirit eyes, and they will see the good as it comes, right in the middle of all the drought of human failure and evil and confusion.
They will have the capacity to perceive and receive, all the good that God is doing.
And they will live by the motto… It doesn’t matter.
Ps 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Pr 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Ps 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
God is saying, in 2024 Trust me more. Don’t put your trust in the government, or the judicial system, or the monetary system, or the medical system, or the electoral system.
Don’t put your trust in the republican party or in trump, or any other political candidate.
Some trust in Chariots and Horses, But we will remember the name of the Lord our God, in whom we have put our trust.
Even your money will still remind you. In God we trust.
I believe that in spite of all the crazy and evil things that are going to be done in 2024, those who are putting their trust in the Lord are going to soar.
We are going to soar above the confusion, above the turmoil and the strife. We are going to soar into the goodness and the glory of God.
And we are going to be green and we are going to produce good fruit. And we will become more and more attractive to the world in a spiritual sense, because they are starving and dying of thirst spiritually, and we are going to be their life line to God.
This is the word I feel the Holy Spirit wants to deposit into your heart today… Trust me more, and it won’t matter.
