You may think it’s a small thing, but it’s not

Jeremiah 2:36-37

Why do you go about so much, changing your ways?  You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.  You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.  NIV

Wow.

I’m looking at each verse with the word “trust” in it, verse-by-verse, as I work my way through my NIV concordance.  These verses link together to tell a powerful story, and this is the next chapter.

Listen to how The Message paraphrases these two verses.

“You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you, to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?  But Egypt will leave you in the lurch the same way that Assyria did.  You’re going to walk away from there wringing your hands.  I, GOD, have blacklisted those you trusted.  You’ll get not a lick of help from them.”  MSG

Wow.

You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.  OK … I don’t know enough about world history to put this in complete historical context, but, the meaning of these verses is crystal clear to me.  Jeremiah is telling us that we just don’t get it.  We trust in one oppressor, instead of God, and we may realize the error of our ways, but, if we substitute another in its place, instead of trusting God, we’re doomed.

In my case, I’ve learned that my worry stemmed from my inability to control my future.  I worried about how things would turn out … a lot.  That worry did no good.  It simply distracted me from being able to accomplish anything for the kingdom.  There I was, occupying my time with worry, foolishly thinking that I was accomplishing something by making plan after plan, when all of it was really for, well, nothing.  All I was doing was putting my trust in my own perspectives  and my own abilities above my trust in God.  Anytime God isn’t first, everything is out of order.

So, I feel like I get it.  Especially this last week with the “trust” verses I looked at in Isaiah.  I’m blind.  I don’t know the future and I’m not meant to.  I must trust God to lead me to it and through it.

And, then, today’s verse.

“You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you, to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?  But Egypt will leave you in the lurch the same way that Assyria did.”

The only path, the narrow path, is to trust God with my whole heart.  I can’t trust myself or anyone else here for my fate or for my future.  I can’t substitute another oppressor for the one that I’ve spent so much time getting rid of!

I know that I won’t get a “lick of help,” from any other source, and I don’t want to find myself wringing my hands after I figure out the next thing that I might have trusted instead of God.

So, that’s my prayer today … that God would show me when I’m getting off track, when I’m trusting anything or anyone else in place of Him. That He would empower me to keep my focus laser sharp, on trusting Him.