From: "Beverly French" <frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us>
To: "Heritage" <gheritage@juno.com>
Subject: New Year Blessings to All
Date: Sunday, January 06, 2002 7:43 AM

"O Lord of hosts,
 How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!"  Psalm  84:12

It is not so for the man who puts his trust in mankind.  For the Lord
speaking to Jeremiah
says,
"Cursed is the  man who trusts in  mankind
 And makes flesh his strength,
 And whose heart turns away from the Lord."  Jeremiah 17:5

What is the result?
"For he will be like a bush in the desert
 And will not see when prosperity comes,
 But will lie in stony wastes in the wilderness,
 A land of salt without inhabitant."  Jeremiah 17:6

The Lord continues in that same passage to tell of the man who puts his
trust in the Lord:
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
 And whose trust is the Lord.  Jeremiah 17:7

The result?
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
 That extends its roots by a stream
 And will not fear when the heat comes;
 But its leaves will be green,
 And it will not be anxious in the year of drought
 Nor cease to yield fruit."  Jeremiah 17:8

Psalm 1 contrast these two, the righteous and the wicked.  I will 
leave that to your further reading.

The Bible names many trees, but probably the most familar is the cedar 
of Lebanon.  There is a passage in Ezekiel 31 that describes this stately 
cedar.  The Lord is using its grandeur to describe Assyria and Assyria's 
destruction, but we can see what a majestic tree it is in the phrases that 
are used (it is a cross reference for Jer 17:8):

"Beautiful branches"
"Very high; its tops in the clouds"
"Loftier than all the trees of the field"
"Its boughs become many and its branches long"
"The waters made it grown, the deep made it high"
"Birds nest in its boughs"
"Under its branches all beast of the field gave birth"
"Beautiful in its greatness"
"Its roots extended to many waters"

Psalm 92:12-15 moves from the tree to the righteous man  
himself as we read,
"The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
 He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
 Planted in the house of the Lord,
 They will floursh in the courts of our God.
 They will still yield fruit in old age;
 They shall be full of sap and very green,
 To declare that the Lord is upright;
 He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

As stated last week,
"We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which 
God prepared beforehand..."   Ephesians 2:10
"Therefore...walk in a manner worthy of the call with which you have been
called..."  Ephesians 4:1

Hallelujah!  Blessed beyond measure is he who trusts in the Lord!
We give You thanks, praise and honor, O Lord!  For You alone are 
worthy of it all!  Amen.