Jeremiah 17:5-18

GOD’s Message: “Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets GOD aside as dead weight. He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows. “But blessed is the man who trusts me, GOD, the woman who sticks with GOD. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season. * * * “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, GOD, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.” * * * Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs in another bird’s nest Is the person who gets rich by cheating. When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed. What a fool he’ll look like then! * * * From early on your Sanctuary was set high, a throne of glory, exalted! O GOD, you’re the hope of Israel. All who leave you end up as fools, Deserters with nothing to show for their lives, who walk off from GOD, fountain of living waters— and wind up dead! * * * GOD, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise! Listen to how they talk about me: “So where’s this ‘Word of GOD’? We’d like to see something happen!” But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday. I never wanted trouble. You know what I’ve said. It’s all out in the open before you. Don’t add to my troubles. Give me some relief! Let those who harass me be harassed, not me. Let them be disgraced, not me. Bring down upon them the day of doom. Lower the boom. Boom!