We’re still in Jeremiah 17. We finished with the tree planted by the river. It not only stays alive, but it also does not fear. It doesn’t fear when the heat comes. The trials and troubles will come, but one who drinks deeply of the Spirit and Truth will not fear. The water will quench the fire. They won’t be scorched. They also won’t even be anxious in drought.

There is a drought, a famine for the word of God. If your teacher is the Holy Spirit, it won’t affect you. You will drink deeply and eat richly.

The Lord is everything. We must treat Him that way and not turn to others.

Jeremiah prays, “Heal me. Save me.” He knows that if God does it, that he will be healed and he will be saved.

Jeremiah declares, “You are my praise.”

Is God your praise? What excites you? What do talk about? What do you think is just the best thing ever? Is God truly your praise day in and day out?

I thought it was interesting that in verse sixteen, Jeremiah calls himself a shepherd. He says, “I have not run away from being your shepherd.”

It makes me think of Moses and Samuel. They were raised up as prophets, but they were shepherds of God’s people. They probably all had moments of thoughts of just running away. It was a hard burden to carry, caring about all those souls and fighting discouragement when they turned from God’s ways.

Who do you lead? Someone is watching you. Lead by example, but also, give them to the Lord. The Lord alone is God! He alone changes hearts. You seek the Lord and His word and share it, but what happens is up to the Lord. You can’t change someone’s mind. You can’t bring someone to repentance. The Lord does the work of the heart. You do the work of prayer. That’s the most important work of a Christian because only what the Lord does is what will be lasting. We accomplish that first and foremost in prayer. And leading a life of prayer would be a beautiful example to set.