Jeremiah 17:8

Jeremiah 17:8

Thoughts from Stuart Poteet

Dive Deeper

True Vine
Slide

“For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream, and does not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit."

Jeremiah 17:8

Behind the Scenes
Slide

If you’re a child of the 90’s like me, you probably remember the “No Fear” shirts, stickers, and apparel that were so popular around that time. I remember as a kid loving the idea but never really feeling like I could sport the saying because to be honest, there were a ton of things I feared. I didn’t want to be what we would have referred to as a “poser” or someone who touted one idea while living another.

Slide

Sometimes I read this verse and I feel a little like that. I want to be like the tree in this verse, never afraid no matter what the situation. But all too often I don’t feel that way at all. Maybe you relate to that. Maybe when you read verses like today’s, you think, “Yeah, that sounds great, but that’s not my reality.”

Slide

So how can we hope to live this out? What’s the disconnect between this verse and our reality? Well, to understand that we have to look back one verse to verse 7. It says “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord.” See, the source of this “No Fear” mentality is trust in the Lord.

Slide

Notice that this verse states it twice. Any time the Bible repeats itself we should take notice because the author is trying to get our attention. And it states it two different ways- a man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord. Did you catch that? Another way that this verse can be translated is a man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. So, this verse, this recipe for a “No Fear” kind of life, starts with not only trusting in the Lord, but also hoping in Him too.

Make It Real
Slide

So, what does it look like to not only trust in the Lord but also to hope in Him? When we look at these two different words that are translated to trust, we see that they are different in the original Hebrew. The first is the word bāṭaḥ, which is a verb that includes the idea of intentionally placing your trust in something. The second word is miḇṭāḥ, which is actually a noun.

Slide

So, this verse, this recipe for the “No Fear” kind of life that we all wish for comes from two different things. First it comes from the choice to intentionally put our trust in the Lord. It is this verb, this way of living. It is an action that defines our life. But the second part of this is a noun. It’s this understanding that we all have a piece of our heart that is responsible for trust. And the ability to live free from fear comes from surrendering that part of our heart fully and completely to God.

Slide

See it’s more than just a choice to use that part of our hearts to trust, but the full surrender of our heart to God. We let go of both our will and our heart, and place them in the perfect hands of Christ. Maybe we could put it this way- the life of trust is one that we both live and are. It’s a choice to both do and to be. Do you see it? And when we surrender both the “doing” and the “being” to our perfect Father who is far more trustworthy than we could ever imagine, the overflow of that is a “No Fear” kind of life. It is the result of this kind of trust, this kind of surrender.

End in Prayer
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Lord, I want to not only choose to trust You but choose to give you my all. I want to not only do, but also be. Lord, I want all of You to have all of me. Help me to trust You fully so that I can experience Your “No Fear” kind of life. God free me from fear as I learn to rest and trust fully in You.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen

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“For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream, and does not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.” 

Jeremiah 17:8

Behind the Scenes

If you’re a child of the 90’s like me, you probably remember the “No Fear” shirts, stickers, and apparel that were so popular around that time. I remember as a kid loving the idea but never really feeling like I could sport the saying because to be honest, there were a ton of things I feared. I didn’t want to be what we would have referred to as a “poser” or someone who touted one idea while living another.  

Sometimes I read this verse and I feel a little like that. I want to be like the tree in this verse, never afraid no matter what the situation. But all too often I don’t feel that way at all. Maybe you relate to that. Maybe when you read verses like today’s, you think, “Yeah, that sounds great, but that’s not my reality.” 

So how can we hope to live this out? What’s the disconnect between this verse and our reality? Well, to understand that we have to look back one verse to verse 7. It says “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord.” See, the source of this “No Fear” mentality is trust in the Lord.  

Notice that this verse states it twice. Any time the Bible repeats itself we should take notice because the author is trying to get our attention. And it states it two different ways- a man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord. Did you catch that? Another way that this verse can be translated is a man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. So, this verse, this recipe for a “No Fear” kind of life, starts with not only trusting in the Lord, but also hoping in Him too. 

Make it Real

So, what does it look like to not only trust in the Lord but also to hope in Him? When we look at these two different words that are translated to trust, we see that they are different in the original Hebrew. The first is the word bāṭaḥ, which is a verb that includes the idea of intentionally placing your trust in something. The second word is miḇṭāḥ, which is actually a noun.  

So, this verse, this recipe for the “No Fear” kind of life that we all wish for comes from two different things. First it comes from the choice to intentionally put our trust in the Lord. It is this verb, this way of living. It is an action that defines our life. But the second part of this is a noun. It’s this understanding that we all have a piece of our heart that is responsible for trust. And the ability to live free from fear comes from surrendering that part of our heart fully and completely to God.  

See it’s more than just a choice to use that part of our hearts to trust, but the full surrender of our heart to God. We let go of both our will and our heart, and place them in the perfect hands of Christ. Maybe we could put it this way- the life of trust is one that we both live and are. It’s a choice to both do and to be. Do you see it? And when we surrender both the “doing” and the “being” to our perfect Father who is far more trustworthy than we could ever imagine, the overflow of that is a “No Fear” kind of life. It is the result of this kind of trust, this kind of surrender.  

Crystal Garnett

Crystal Garnett

ACF Digital Discipleship Pastor

End in Prayer

Lord, I want to not only choose to trust You but choose to give you my all. I want to not only do, but also be. Lord, I want all of You to have all of me. Help me to trust You fully so that I can experience Your “No Fear” kind of life. God free me from fear as I learn to rest and trust fully in You.  

In the name of Jesus, 

Amen 

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