Jeremiah lived during a dark time in Judah’s history. The people claimed to belong to God, but their hearts had turned away from Him. They trusted false gods, human leaders, military strength, wealth, and their own wisdom. They continued practicing religion, but they were no longer depending upon the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:5–10 describes two very different lives. One is like a dry bush struggling in a barren wilderness. The other is like a healthy tree planted beside flowing water.
The difference is not wealth, intelligence, education, position, or outward success.
The difference is where each person places his trust.
The passage then takes us deeper. It explains why trusting ourselves is dangerous. The human heart is deceitful, but God searches every heart and knows what is truly there.
Jeremiah 17:5
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.’”
The warning begins with the words, “This is what the LORD says.” Jeremiah is not giving his personal opinion. God Himself is warning His people about misplaced trust.
The verse does not say that we must never trust another person in any way. Scripture teaches us to seek wise counsel, keep our promises, help one another, and live faithfully with other believers. The warning is against placing the trust that belongs to God in human beings.
The person described here “makes flesh his strength.” He depends upon human ability, power, wisdom, money, government, military strength, religious leaders, or his own plans as though these things can provide the security that only God can give.
Psalm 118 gives a similar warning:
“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in noblemen.”
Psalm 118:8–9
People can disappoint us. Leaders can fail. Money can disappear. Governments can fall. Our health can change. Even our own minds and bodies will eventually become weak.
God does not change.
Notice that Jeremiah connects trusting in mankind with a heart that “turns away from the LORD.” Misplaced trust is not merely a poor decision. It reveals a spiritual problem. When we depend upon something else as our final source of safety, direction, or hope, our hearts begin turning away from God.
A person may still attend church, pray religious prayers, and speak about faith while placing his real confidence somewhere else.
Trouble often reveals where our trust has been resting. When everything is stripped away, what do we believe will save us? Where do we turn first? What do we fear losing most?
God may use people to help us, but people must never take His place. Our trust must remain in the Lord who provides the help.
Jeremiah 17:6
“For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt that is not inhabited.”
God now gives us a picture of the person who trusts in human strength. He is like a bush in the desert.
A desert bush may remain alive, but it struggles in dry, barren ground. It has no dependable source of water. The heat beats down, the soil produces little, and there is no lasting fruitfulness.
The word “prosperity” in this verse does not promise financial wealth. The picture is of needed rain and relief arriving, yet the desert bush is unable to benefit from it. Its roots are in the wrong place.
A person who trusts in mankind may appear successful for a time. He may have money, influence, friends, or position. However, outward success is not the same as spiritual life. A person can possess everything the world values while remaining empty before God.
Jesus warned:
“For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself?”
Luke 9:25
The person described by Jeremiah lives in “a land of salt.” Salt in the soil makes the ground unproductive. Nothing healthy can grow there.
That is what happens when we build our lives apart from God. We may remain busy, religious, and outwardly successful, but we cannot produce the spiritual life that comes from Him.
Jesus said:
“Apart from Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
He did not mean that unbelievers are unable to work, earn money, raise families, or accomplish earthly goals. He meant that nothing of eternal spiritual value can be produced apart from Him.
A life rooted in human strength will eventually reveal its dryness.
Jeremiah 17:7
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose trust is the LORD.”
Verse 5 begins with a curse. Verse 7 begins with a blessing.
The contrast could not be clearer.
One person trusts in mankind and turns away from God. The other trusts in the Lord and finds his security in Him.
Notice that Jeremiah does not merely say this person trusts something the Lord has given him. He says his “trust is the LORD.”
The believer’s confidence is not finally in money, health, a job, a pastor, a church, a government, or even an answer to prayer. His confidence is in God Himself.
God may change our circumstances. He may provide through another person. He may open a door, close a door, heal a sickness, or give strength to endure it. However, our trust must remain in Him rather than in the particular way we expect Him to act.
Proverbs says:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust does not mean that we understand everything God is doing. It means we believe He is trustworthy when we do not understand.
It is easy to claim that we trust God when life is going as planned. Trust becomes visible when the answer is delayed, the path is unclear, or the outcome is not what we wanted.
The blessed person is not the one who never experiences trouble. He is the one whose confidence remains in God during the trouble.
Jeremiah 17:8
“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.”
The person who trusts in the Lord is compared with a tree planted beside water.
The tree is not strong because the weather is always pleasant. It is strong because its roots reach a dependable source of water.
Heat still comes.
Drought still comes.
The verse does not promise that people who trust God will avoid sickness, loss, persecution, disappointment, or hardship. The same heat may fall upon both the desert bush and the tree beside the stream.
The difference is what happens when the heat arrives.
The desert bush has no dependable source of life. The tree beside the water continues receiving what it needs through its roots.
Psalm 1 describes the person who delights in God’s Word in almost the same way:
“He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Psalm 1:3
Again, this is not a promise that every believer will become wealthy or avoid trouble. Biblical prosperity is not measured by money, comfort, or earthly success. The picture is of a life that remains spiritually alive and fruitful because it is rooted in God.
Jeremiah says the tree “does not fear when the heat comes.” He does not say the tree cannot feel the heat. Faith does not make us unable to feel pain, fear, sorrow, or pressure. Faith gives us a reason not to be ruled by them.
The tree also “will not be anxious in a year of drought.” A year of drought is not one difficult afternoon. It describes a long season when relief does not seem to come.
Some trials last longer than we expect. A believer may pray faithfully and still face months or years of difficulty. Jeremiah does not promise that the drought will end quickly. He teaches that the believer can remain rooted during it.
The tree also does not “cease to yield fruit.”
Jesus taught that spiritual fruit comes from remaining in Him:
“The one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit.”
John 15:5
Fruit includes changed character, obedience, love, patience, faithfulness, and service to others. Sometimes the strongest evidence of faith appears during a drought. Anyone can speak confidently when life is easy. Continuing to trust, obey, and serve God during hardship reveals where the roots have grown.
The believer survives the drought because his source of life is deeper than his circumstances.
Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
After describing the two kinds of trust, Jeremiah explains why we cannot safely trust ourselves.
The human heart is deceitful.
Our culture often tells people, “Follow your heart.” Scripture gives us a warning instead. Our hearts can mislead us, excuse our sins, change the truth, and persuade us that what we want must be right.
The heart in Scripture is more than our emotions. It includes our thoughts, desires, motives, intentions, and will. It represents the inner person.
Jesus explained what comes from the human heart:
“For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.”
Mark 7:21–22
Sin is not only an outside influence. It comes from within us. We cannot blame every sinful thought or desire on the devil, our upbringing, society, or someone else. Those things may influence us, but our own hearts are capable of deception.
A deceitful heart does not always announce that it is leading us into sin. It may provide good-sounding excuses.
“I deserve this.”
“Everyone else does it.”
“God understands.”
“It does not hurt anyone.”
“This is just who I am.”
“I prayed about it, and I feel at peace.”
A feeling of peace does not prove that a decision is right. Our feelings must be tested by Scripture.
Proverbs warns:
“One who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but one who walks wisely will flee to safety.”
Proverbs 28:26
This does not mean a Christian can never recognize a sincere desire or conviction. God gives believers new life, and the Holy Spirit works within them. However, Christians still need Scripture because we can misunderstand our feelings and motives.
We should never say, “I know what the Bible says, but my heart tells me something different.”
God’s Word must correct the heart. The heart must never be allowed to correct God’s Word.
Jeremiah asks, “Who can understand it?” We often do not fully understand our own motives. We may believe we are acting out of love when pride is involved. We may call something wisdom when it is fear. We may describe stubbornness as conviction or excuse selfishness as self-care.
We need God to show us what we cannot see in ourselves.
David prayed:
“Search me, God, and know my heart; put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalm 139:23–24
That is a brave prayer because we are asking God to expose what we might rather keep hidden.
Jeremiah 17:10
“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, to give to each person according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
Verse 9 asks who can understand the human heart. Verse 10 gives the answer.
God can.
We may deceive ourselves. We may deceive other people. We cannot deceive God.
People see our words and actions. God sees the motives behind them. He knows whether our worship is sincere, whether our obedience is genuine, and where our trust truly rests.
God told Samuel:
“God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
Religious appearance may impress people, but it does not impress God. A person may carry a Bible, attend church, pray publicly, give money, and speak Christian language while his heart remains far from the Lord.
God searches the heart and tests the mind.
The word “test” does not mean that God is trying to discover something He does not know. God already knows everything. Testing exposes what is present and brings it into judgment.
The final words of verse 10 can raise an important question. God says He gives each person “according to his ways” and “according to the results of his deeds.”
Does this mean we are saved by our works?
No.
Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is by grace through faith:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8–9
Good works cannot pay for sin or earn eternal life. Jesus Christ alone saves.
However, Scripture also teaches that our deeds reveal what is in our hearts. Works do not produce salvation, but they provide evidence of what we truly believe.
Jesus said:
“You will know them by their fruits.”
Matthew 7:16
A person may claim to trust God, but the direction of his life reveals where his trust actually rests. A genuine believer is not perfect, but faith begins producing obedience, repentance, love, and spiritual fruit.
God judges rightly because He sees both the outward deed and the heart behind it. His judgment is never mistaken, unfair, or based upon incomplete information.
For the unbeliever, this is a serious warning. No hidden sin will remain hidden from God. No excuse will change the truth, and no religious appearance will cover an unrepentant heart.
For the believer, it is also a comfort. God sees obedience that no one else notices. He knows when we serve without recognition, remain faithful under pressure, or continue trusting Him through a private struggle.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
Two Lives and Two Sources
Jeremiah gives us two pictures.
One life is a bush in the desert. Its trust is in mankind, flesh, and human strength. When the heat comes, its weakness is exposed.
The other life is a tree beside the water. Its trust is in the Lord. Heat and drought still come, but its roots reach a source that does not dry up.
The passage then brings us face-to-face with the deceitfulness of our own hearts. We cannot safely trust ourselves as our final authority. We need God’s Word to examine us, correct us, and show us what is true.
The question is not whether we trust something. Everyone does.
The question is what we are trusting.
Are we trusting money to make us secure?
Are we trusting a pastor to tell us everything we should believe?
Are we trusting a political leader to save our country?
Are we trusting our feelings to determine what is true?
Are we trusting our own goodness to make us right with God?
Are we trusting our plans to protect us from every possible trouble?
Or is our trust in the Lord?
God may use money, people, leaders, churches, doctors, and many other means to help us. We can be thankful for them. But none of them can take His place.
Everything in this world can change.
The Lord does not.
The person rooted in Christ will still feel the heat. He will still experience seasons of drought. But he has a source of life that circumstances cannot take away.
Do not merely ask whether you believe in God.
Ask where your trust is resting when life becomes difficult.