Rooted in Faith

Scripture Reading: Psalm 104; Jeremiah 16-18; 2 Thessalonians 3; 1 Timothy 1

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.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out is 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 no cease to bear fruit.

- Jeremiah 17:5-8 -

Jeremiah’s words here echo the very first psalm. Both describe two ways of life — the way of trust and the way of self-reliance, the way of the fruitful tree and the way of the withered shrub. The language and structure are so close that Jeremiah almost seems to be preaching from Psalm 1. Yet while the psalm opens the book of worship, Jeremiah delivers his message to a nation on the brink of judgment.

The parallel is intentional. The same God who blessed the man who “delights in the law of the LORD” now calls His people to return to that same rooted trust. What was once a song of wisdom has become a warning of exile.

The contrast could not be sharper. The man who trusts in man — whether in political alliances, military strength, or his own moral ability — is “like a shrub in the desert.” He may look alive for a season, but he is cut off from any lasting source of life. This is a picture of the fallen condition: man drawing upon man, humanity trusting in its own flesh rather than the Creator who gives breath to flesh.

But the one who trusts in the LORD — the one whose trust is the LORD — is like a tree planted by the river. The language suggests intentional planting; he did not grow there by accident. God Himself has set him by the stream, just as the Lord “plants” His people in His covenant grace. The believer’s life is sustained by the hidden supply of God’s Spirit, which Jesus later calls “rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

Notice that Jeremiah does not say the tree avoids heat or drought. Faith does not exempt us from trials; it anchors us through them. The difference is not in the weather, but in the roots. The cursed man looks to the flesh and withers when circumstances dry up. The blessed man draws from an unseen reservoir — God Himself.

This image is profoundly Christ-centered. Jesus is the true and faithful Man whose trust was entirely in His Father. He is the blessed tree who bore fruit even under the heat of the cross. By faith, we are grafted into Him — sharing His life, His righteousness, and His endurance. Thus, what Jeremiah promised finds its ultimate fulfillment in union with Christ.

The call of Jeremiah 17 is not simply to “try harder to trust,” but to relocate the roots of our confidence — from self to Savior. The more our hearts are planted in Christ, the more stable our souls become when drought comes.

And drought will come. The heat of temptation, the dryness of suffering, the barrenness of unanswered prayer — all of these will test what we are rooted in. But for the one who abides in Christ, even those seasons become places of growth.

The world withers by trusting in itself. The believer flourishes by trusting in the Lord.

So the question Jeremiah presses upon us is the same one Psalm 1 opens with:
Where are your roots?