When God says what He does not like, He is also saying what He DOES LIKE, what He blesses and blooms, and allows to grow in well-being like a tree near water. The tree reaches the water easily as it is near the stream. We, likewise, will be blessed by staying close to God. Blessed are those who trust in Him.

And a reminder, again through the prophets, that we are fallible humans, so trusting in human beings and corruptible notions will get us in trouble, we will live a dry existence, not lush. God keeps calling us back to Him, He wants us totally to trust in Him. Many times we are warned to guard our hearts and don’t let them be swayed away, don’t let our hearts convince our heads to follow in, guard the emotions, and trust deeper, God deeper, to the roots of our being.

Jeremiah reminds us, as he instructed the Israelites:

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:5-10

Amen