I never realized how much the fear of man gripped my heart until I studied and researched for my books on idolatry and fear. In doing so, I saw how much caring about the thoughts of others influenced my choices, in everything from parenting to housework. I saw how I worshipped the praise and adoration of others and how I found purpose and meaning in how others responded to me. It opened my eyes to the true content of my heart and my need for God’s transforming grace.
Ultimately, I realized I placed my trust in all the wrong places.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to God’s people, to warn them of the consequences for their idolatry. If you are familiar with the book, you know he was not well received. That’s because he got to the heart of the matter. He revealed the depths of Israel’s depravity and how far they had wandered from God. In essence, he held up a mirror so they could see the true state of their condition and they didn’t like it. In chapter 17, it tells us that their sin had become so great it was “written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart” (v.1).
In verses 5-10, Jeremiah then contrasts the one who trusts in man versus the one who trusts in the Lord. To trust here is to put hope and confidence in another. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD” (v.5). When we fear man, when we look to others for the rescue that only God can give—our hearts turn away from the One who made us and calls us his own. In Jeremiah’s day, Babylon threatened to conquer them and God’s people turned to political alliances for help and deliverance, rather than place their hope in God himself. One who trusts in man, rather than God, 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” (v.6).
In the Bible, the wilderness is always a place of danger, of darkness, and of emptiness. Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden because of their sin and enter the wilderness outside the flaming sword, a place of spiritual barrenness where they would no longer commune with God. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, a place filled with poisonous snakes and bitter water, and only survived because of the gracious provision of God through manna and water from the rock. Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days, and unlike Israel, was faithful to God, sustained by the same word God had given to Israel in their wilderness wanderings.
Jeremiah contrasts the one who trusts in man with one who trusts in the Lord: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its 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 not cease to bear fruit” (vv.7-8). The one who trusts in God finds refuge and security in him—that’s what the Hebrew refers to in “whose trust is the LORD.” He is compared to a tree planted by the water which roots run deep. No matter the heat or lack of rain, this tree always grows and bears fruit. The one who trusts in the Lord, who fears him rather than man, is one who is always spiritually nourished and satisfied. When the heat of circumstances come, when the year of drought arrives, he is not worried or anxious, nor does he turn to counterfeit saviors; he finds his refuge in God alone. As Jesus told the woman at the well, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn.4:14). Author Ed Welch summarizes this Jeremiah 17 passage: “fear of man is a curse that leaves us feeling destitute or empty. The alternative, trust in God, is a blessing that leads to life and fullness.”[1]
Jeremiah then explains why we are drawn to the fear of man: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (vv.9-10). The heart is the core of who we are. It is the center of our wills, desires, thoughts, emotions, and choices. It is what drives us. And it is so deceitful, we cannot understand it. We are filled with self-deception. We “follow our heart” into the wilderness where we cannot survive.
But God understands. He knows our heart. And because he knows, he made a way for us to have new hearts. Jeremiah 24:7 looks to that day, a day fulfilled in Christ: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” Jesus came to this wilderness we call home, to live the life we could not live and die the death we deserved. In doing so, he brought us back into fellowship with God. The Spirit gives us new hearts that can now turn to him in trust. This means we don’t have to fear man. We don’t have to turn to others for hope and deliverance. We don’t have to look to counterfeit saviors to tell us we are worthy or to give our lives meaning. We don’t have to look for approval from other people. Because we are united to Christ by faith, we have the approval of the only One that matters. And when God looks at us, he says “With you I am well pleased.”
Whom do you trust? Do you fear man or God? “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14).
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
[1] Journal of Biblical Counseling, Fall 1994.
