“A Fruitful Tree” – FBC Morning Light (8/15/2024)

Well, good Thursday morning to you. I hope you're doing well, and I hope today that you're able to get into God's Word, and I encourage you to read in Jeremiah 17 through 19, and particularly the passage that we're focusing on this morning in Jeremiah 17 provides a significant contrast between between different ways people handle challenging times, times when the heat comes.

You know, yesterday I referred to the news that I had just seen earlier about the threat of an all-out war in Iran and what that would mean for dragging in other countries in the Middle East. Of course, the reality is, and again, this is, you know, you're seeing this a week and a half later from when I saw that news report, and by now, for all I know, by the time you see this, for all I know, we could be dragged into World War III, for all I know.

And of course, there's the threat of Iran having nuclear weaponry and using such things in this assault against Israel and so forth. Okay, I say all that because these kinds of times are prone to fill with anxiety.

Understandably, we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what the end of it all is going to be, and so it can create a great deal of anxiety. But there's a significant contrast between how people deal with those anxious, anxiety-filling times here in Jeremiah 17.

Trusting in the Lord When the Heat Comes

In verses 7 and 8, I hope that these verses refer to you and apply to you, because there's what this says. It says, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord, regardless of what's going on in the Middle East, regardless of what's happening in Washington, DC, regardless of what China's doing, regardless of what Russia's doing, regardless.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. Why? Because, the next verse goes on to say, 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.

Now, yesterday I made a comment about the health and wealth prosperity, everything is going to be fine kind of preachers who totally downplay any prospect of judgment, and I was critical of that, because judgment does come, and it needs to be anticipated, and we need to acknowledge that it does, and that God's people can be affected.

God's people are affected, even when they're not directly judged. So, for example, the whole mess in the Middle East could cause the United States to enter into war, it could send our economy into a tailspin.

You may be approaching retirement years, and have an IRA or whatever, have your retirement funds tied to the stock market in some way, and from the time I'm recording this until the time you see this, yet the value of your retirement account may be half of what it was, and you love the Lord, you're living for the Lord.

So, you're affected by things like this, and so am I. They can produce a great deal of anxiety, unless my trust is in the Lord, and He is my hope. He is my hope. And in a time like this, I don't look at it all and say, I'm not gonna lose my wealth, I'm gonna be fine, if I just have enough faith, you know, my portfolio will be safe, my health will be secured, nobody in my extended family will be drawn into it, I won't go there.

Instead, what I'll do is, I'll not fear, verse 8 says, I'll not fear, but instead my leaf will be green. My leaf will be green. That doesn't mean my bank account's gonna be full, doesn't mean that there won't be any negative repercussions from an all-out war, anything like that.

It does mean that I will be healthy, I will be spiritually healthy. If my trust is in the Lord, my hope is in Him, then my confidence is in Him, and I will be spiritually healthy. Furthermore, the rest of the verse says, I won't be anxious in the year of drought, and I won't cease from yielding fruit.

I'll still bear fruit. Now the fruit may not be what it would look like in a time of great economic prosperity and all the rest of that, but it should be the same. Why? Because we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit, at least I'm talking about it this morning, the fruit of the Spirit.

So even when the drought comes, if my hope is in the Lord, my trust is in Him, then I can still bear the fruit of the Spirit even through these difficult times. I can still show love and joy and peace and so forth, long-suffering and gentleness and etc.

I can still bear that fruit, and I will if my hope is in Him, if my trust is in Him. There's quite a contrast when you look at the earlier verses, in verses 5 and 6, the person who is trusting in man and makes flesh his strength, if all your confidence is in whoever it is that's running the show in Washington DC, then I suppose you're probably filled with a great deal of anxiety these days.

It says, whose heart departs from the Lord, if your heart isn't trusting in the Lord? Instead, he shall be like a shrub in the desert, he shall not see when good comes. He'll inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that's not inhabited.

That is going to be a miserable experience if your trust is in man. Let me encourage you today, regardless of what is going on at this moment in the world, put your trust in the Lord, hope in Him, hope in Him, and watch Him bear fruit through you, even if a drought comes.

A Prayer for Trust Instead of Anxiety

Help us Father to do just that. Lord, I pray that we would not be looking to men or the flesh to give us security, to relieve our anxiety. Help us to trust in you, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust the Lord will bless you.

Good day.