O my soul,

What else do you long for?

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

― Jeremiah 17:14

Do you long for healing? Do you long for rescue? Do you long for deliverance? Then cry out to God. And as you do, trust in him. Trust him completely. For there is a terrible pitfall for those who long for healing, for deliverance, for change, and it is this: to think that you can make it happen yourself.

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”

― Jeremiah 17:5-6

Do not think for a moment that you’ve got this. It is completely beyond you. You must repudiate that rugged individualism that says you can make it by yourself, for once you start down that road of self-reliance and independence you will gradually become locked in to that way of thinking⸺a shrub in the desert trying to tough it out in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited and uninhabitable salt land. Self-reliance and dependence on God are mutually exclusive. The rugged little shrub in the desert thinks less and less about the Lord and his power to save, and more and more about itself and how to survive, and inevitably its heart turns away from the Lord.

Is that what you want? For there is another way.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

― Jeremiah 17:7-8

To be that tree planted by water, you must not only trust in the Lord, but your trust must be the Lord. Understand what that means. It is trust that is all in, fully committed, as if your very life depends on it, because it does.

Notice something here. The tree planted by the water is not anxious in the year of drought for it does not cease to bear fruit. The Lord uses for his Kingdom purposes even the one crying out for deliverance. The one who trusts in the Lord does not cease to bear fruit, and there is enormous affirmation in that. What a testimony to the grace and power of God. His power is made perfect in our weakness and his grace is fully sufficient.

And notice too the parallel between the tree of life standing on the river of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, and this tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and whose leaves remain green. Are you starting to understand the magnitude of the blessing for the one who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord? It is simply astonishing. The power and grace are completely overwhelming.

Finally, notice what must be in that place of desperate longing for healing, for rescue, for change.

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

― Jeremiah 17:14

For you, O Lord, are my praise. This is what must be, and you must ensure to make it so.

O my soul, never stop crying out to the Lord for rescue and deliverance, and in that place of longing, be sure to make him your praise! 🙏