Read Jeremiah 17:1-10
God’s people continued to sin even though they had the law, the prophets of God, and history replete with God’s miracles. How could they do that? Why do we continue in sin even though we understand the eternal consequences? Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful. And their evil ways are inscribed with a diamond point on their stony hearts. The Hebrews symbolized the various aspects of a person by locating them in certain physical organs. The heart was the organ of reason, intelligence, and will. So deep is our tendency to sin that only God’s redemption can deliver us.
Two kinds of people are contrasted in these verses: those who trust in human beings and those who trust in the Lord. The people of Judah were trusting in false gods and military alliances instead of God, and thus they were barren and unfruitful. In contrast, those who trust in the Lord flourish like trees planted along a riverbank (Psalm 1). In times of trouble, those who trust in human beings will be impoverished and spiritually weak, so they will have no strength to draw on. But those who trust in the Lord will have abundant strength, not only for their own needs, but even for the needs of others. Are you satisfied with being unfruitful, or do you, like a well-watered tree, have strength for times of crisis and even some to share as you bear fruit for the Lord?
God makes it clear why we sin: it’s a matter of the heart. Our heart is inclined toward sin from the time we are born. It is easy to fall into the routine of forgetting and forsaking God. But we can still choose whether or not to continue to sin. We can yield to a specific temptation, or we can ask God to help us resist temptation when it comes.