June 23

Jeremiah 17
Dr. Strangelove was a strange movie. Maybe I should have reviewed it before using it as an illustration. But one scene stands out in my mind. It is toward the end of the movie. The warplane had arrived at its target but could not deliver its atomic bomb payload because it was stuck. Slim Pickens straddles the bomb and does what is necessary to release it from the bomb bay. But he is released with the bomb. What I remember was that as the bomb descends, you see him straddled upon the bomb as though he were riding a bucking bronco. In true cowboy form he waves his hat and yells, “Yee! Hah!” as he descends to his doom and the doom of the world. What would motivate a man to celebrate like that in the day of doom? The message of the movie is the absurdity of war. It is an apt scene to communicate that message.
The Lord places a very powerful juxtaposition before us in this chapter. On the one hand, He curses those who rely upon the strength of the flesh. Notice that He curses them! That is a very powerful statement! It is a curse! Lord, am I relying in any form upon my flesh? I have been reading David Platt’s Radical Together and have been challenged. Is the weakness of the American church that which most perceive it be its strength? Look at what we have! Slick packaged programs now abound so much that it is almost impossible to keep up with all of them, let alone just the ones that become popular. We have “Christian” music in every genre to attract people from every segment of society. We have video pastor’s so that we can have the “best” pastors broadcast into every congregation, or for that matter in some cases the most deceptive. We can control the atmosphere of our auditoriums to fit whatever we think will appeal to our target audience. That might mean low lights, bright lights, sun lights, video clips, dramas, humor, art, couches, pews, chairs, coffee shops, bookstores etc. None of these in and of themselves are necessarily bad, but if they are all so good, why is the American church so weak and ineffective? Why are we not growing? Oh sure individual churches increase in numbers, but the research continues to show that in general it is just a redistribution of population from one church to another, as we continue to close churches in record number and the overall growth of the church is minimal. Why does the church seem to be growing only in areas of the world where they do not have these things? Could it possibly be that we have placed our trust in these things rather than the simple word of the Lord and His Holy Spirit? What does the Lord say about that? “If your eye offend you, pluck it out.” Does He really want us to rip out our eyes?
On the other hand in this juxtaposition, He says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hopeis in the Lord.” Does this mean that this man or church does not have all of the things mentioned above? Not necessarily. It simply means that his trust and hope are in the Lord. Those thing are immaterial to him. The only time that those things matter is when they keep him from trusting or hoping in the Lord. Then he rips them out. He knows that drought times will come when those things will not protect or produce life, but He will continue to produce the life of the Lord because ultimately it is the Lord who produces life. He knows that there is a doomsday coming through which he might have to live, but because he is trusting and hoping in the Lord, he looks forward to the future because his glorious Lord is in control. Because he has this hope and trust, he bears fruit that remains in drought and doom. Right in the middle of this juxtaposition, He declares:
9”The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
My heart and mind keep wanting to depend upon the flesh. It is a principle of this life. We have no option but to keep asking the Lord to test our hearts and minds. Why does the Lord test the heart? Is it so that He might find out what is in it? NO!!!! He already and always knows our hearts. The test is for us. It is His glory to show us our hearts and mind if we will ask Him. Beware! We may not like what we see. But, if we repent, we can place our hope in Him rather than the things around us. The benefit will be that in the drought and day of doom, we will still be producing fruit for eternity. Unlike Slim Pickens we can yell, “Yee! Hah!” Not because of the absurdity of our action, but because we know our destiny is to walk through the day of doom into the glory of God. O Lord, test my heart! Keep my trust and hope only in You!! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john