Multiple times in Jeremiah the Lord’s indictment against Israel was that they followed the dictates of their heart. He entreated them through His prophets to follow Him, but they refused.

Remember the ruined sash? Jeremiah 13:10 says, “This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.”

Let John 6:63 remind us again that our flesh profits nothing.

Jeremiah 15:19 says, “…If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; IF you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth…”

Jeremiah 16:19 called lies worthless and unprofitable things. That is exactly what the devil wants to do. He shoots his fiery dart-lies in a way they will penetrate. His design is to get them inside our heart so that he can set up inner strongholds of evil thoughts. You think a believer doesn’t have evil thoughts? Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”

2 Corinthians 10:4 says that it is God’s word in our heart that will pull down those stronghold-lies. Satan is a dictator. The Lord never dictates. He invites!

To follow the dictates of our heart means that we unequivocally and absolutely act independent of God. He is not in that equation. It is all flesh which profits nothing.

How do we take out the precious from the vile? First we acknowledge that we have sinned against God alone. The dictates of our heart are pride! Like 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “…will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then…”

We cannot turn with a proud heart. God resists the proud. Verse 14 goes on to say, “…I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” We humble ourselves through confession of our sin. If we don’t, the Lord will bring His ways to humble us.

The Lord is clothed in light. We are called to let our light shine before all men. Romans 13:12 says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

1 John 1:6 says that if we ‘say’ that we have fellowship with the One who dwells in light, but walk in darkness, we are lying. Hmm. What does it mean to walk in darkness?

Hiding anything in our hearts except God’s word is walking in darkness. Here is an illustration. Jeremiah 13:1-11 was a prophetic act. God told Jeremiah to take a brand new sash, and put it around his waist. Then to hide it in a hole in the rock. After many days the Lord told him to take it out. It was ruined. Verse 7 says, “…It was profitable for nothing.”

In verse 9 God explained the prophetic act. He said that in the same manner He would ruin the great pride of Jerusalem. Verse 10 says that they refused to hear His words, they followed the dictates of their own hearts, and they walked after other gods and worshiped and served them.

Hidden unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, or keeping a record of wrongs is disobedience. We have ignored God’s word, and followed the dictates of our own heart. We were wise in our own eyes, and did not fear Him. What we hide becomes an idol of our heart that dictates what we think and do. It enslaves us.

He knows what is in our heart. He wants us to acknowledge it as sin against Him. He alone is God, and He alone deserves all praise. He saved us and redeemed us that He might be our focus of worship so that He is glorified. Let us confess any hidden sin. As we enthrone Him in our heart, our testimony of light will shine.

This morning when I woke up I was drawn to verse two in Psalm 104. Verses 1-2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover Yourself with light as with a garment…”

Here is another that goes with them. Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.”

In the midst of our chaos, let us keep our focus on the Lord’s greatness. Jeremiah questioned the Lord as to why the wicked prospered. God’s answer is relevant to us today.

Jeremiah 12:5 says, “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?”

Verse 6 says, “For even your brothers…have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.”

Jeremiah was rebuked for his impatience. Patience is a character quality that is developed through our trials. Impatience is a fleshly reaction when something doesn’t go as we planned it.

Psalm 61 was written by David. He cried out to the Lord. He was overwhelmed, and asked the Lord to lead him to higher ground. The way we raise our thoughts from our overwhelming, patience trying circumstances is through worship.

Worship is a lifestyle. It is a high watermark of a true follower of Jesus. There will never be a circumstance that would keep us from worshiping in our heart. Worship is a heart response when we think back to the cross.

Worship is drinking at the well of our salvation. Isaiah 12:2-3 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust in Him and not be afraid; for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Let our lives reflect a heart of worship because He is worthy.

Does the Lord hear faith in your heart as you pray? Galatians 3:2 says, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Verse 5 says, “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

What does faith sound like to the Lord? He knows our hearts, and every thought before we think it. He knows when our heart is engaged as we pray.What does your faith sound like as you wait? Waiting is a trial that refines our faith.

I love this scene in 2 Samuel 5:24. David was told to wait until he heard the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees. He was listening with faith. The Lord told him that as soon as he heard the sound he was to advance. That means that he was waiting with an engaged heart.

Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.” Let’s take another scene. Hear Elijah’s faith? There was a drought. In verse 41 he said this to Ahab, “…Go up…for there is the sound of the abundance of rain.”

Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He prayed. Then he told his servant to go up and look toward the sea. SEVEN times he told him to go. Verse 44 says, “…There is a cloud…rising out of the sea! So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.”

The sound of faith in our prayers is agreement with what God has said. It is preserving to wait until He acts. Our mind is still, bringing every doubt captive through persevering truth.

Galatians 3:5 Amplified says, “…adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard.” What does God say in His word regarding your situation? Agree with His promise and stand. When you have done all to stand, keep on standing until He gives clear direction. He delights to hear our faith!

Hebrews 4:2 says, “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

Everyone heard the same message. Some believed and some did not. The difference? It takes heart engagement through faith to profit in our walk with the Lord. I often ask the Lord to help me see beyond the print. He is so desirous to reveal Himself through His word.

I want to embrace how He wants to reveal Himself in my daily reading. I just love how He speaks through His word to my present circumstances. His word is timeless. Last year I read the book of Jeremiah. As I am reading it now, my life is in a totally different season. Jeremiah 2:11 gave me new insight that challenged my heart.

John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Our faith has to be in God’s ability to do what He has purposed. It cannot be in what we want Him to do, because that ‘want’ is flesh driven.

Jeremiah 9:24 says, “But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.”

Think of the parable of the sower. When we turn aside, our heart will not embrace the word. Stony ground hearts hear the word, but they don’t mix it with faith. When they fall into trials, they wither. Thorny ground chokes out the word so that it is not profitable.

2 Kings 19:30 was talking about the remnant of Israel. We can apply these words to our lives. It says, “…shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” Colossians 2:7 says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

Hmm. No one wants to bite into a bitter juiceless fruit that is borne from our flesh. The deeper we are rooted in faith, the more our walk will be profitable. We embrace His word, mix it with faith, and apply it to our lives. The result will be inner transformation that exemplifies the character of Jesus. Our fruit will be sweet and succulent which others will desire to eat.

Jeremiah 2:11 says, “Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit.” Verse 13 explained what they did. “…they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns–broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Romans 1:23 says, “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…” 1 Samuel 12:21 says, “And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.” Empty. Unprofitable. Futile.

Here is a verse that helps me to better understand unprofitable. Luke 17:10 says, “…we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” Perhaps you are like me in this way. There are things that I do out of duty. As I do them I am on automatic pilot. My heart is not in them. That may be fine for scrubbing toilets, or taking the trash out. However, it can become a habit in all our activity that carries over into our walk with the Lord.

Are you fully heart-engaged in your quiet time or is it by rote? Zechariah 4 recorded a vision of two olive branches. Verse 12 says, “…What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles…” The angel answered in verse 14. “…These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.” My margin says the literal is: sons of fresh oil. Ponder this.

In my journal I wrote: Are there areas of dried earth in my heart? When we turn aside from our Glory, our walk is barren. Unprofitable. Dry. Rocky. Vital union with the Lord is broken, leaving us unfulfilled.God’s word is living water. If you feel dried out, listen to these verses. There is hope. Let His word water your roots deeply.

Psalm 65:9-11 gives me a picture of hard barren land that becomes verdant when the Lord waters it.Verse 10-11 says, “You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth. You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.” Galatians 6:9 says that to lose heart is the result of growing weary in well doing. To lose heart is to disengage, turn aside, and end up slugging through hard barren ground.

I want to encourage you to engage your heart. Let us approach every aspect of our lives with fresh oil that drips from our intimate communion with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.” Heart-engagement is profitable.

Isaiah 43:7 says that we are created to glorify God. One of the ways we do that is when we embrace our trials. They are divine gifts that bestow benefits we lacked.

Paul is such an example for me of one who embraced his trials so that he could glorify the Lord. 2 Corinthians 10:17 says, “But the one who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Paul quoted this from Jeremiah 9:24 which says, “But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…” The Lord desires to draw us deeper in our relationship with Him through our trials.

2 Corinthians 11:30 J B Philips says, “Oh, if I’m going to boast, let me boast of the things which have shown up my weakness.” Ponder this. To boast means: brag, exult, or glory. Are you bragging about this great trial you are in or complaining?

Let me break it down this way. What happens when you can no longer do what you used to do because of your trial? Weakness shows how absolutely we are dependent on the Lord. It also shows how quickly our flesh rises. Our protesting flesh is an indicator that we need to humble ourselves so that His grace can come.

Our weakness makes us feel inadequate. It is because we are looking at ‘me’ instead of Him. Therefore it signals that we need to refocus and center on the Lord’s provision for our needs.

Paul got it right. Once the Lord told him that His grace was sufficient for Paul’s thorn in the flesh, he exulted in his infirmity. I picture it like this: I get it Lord, now I understand what You are doing! You want to use my weakness so that Your strength is more evident as a testimony to others!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “…Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Trials reveal the hidden pockets of our flesh that only rise when challenged. Have you ever been frustrated because of your trial? Years ago the Lord gave me this definition for frustration: God intercepting my way to redirect me into His way. Instead of resisting, let us embrace what He has allowed that He may be glorified!

The Holy Spirit pointed something out to me that I want to share with you. 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 were written about giving financially. Yet we can apply this principle of giving freely from our hearts.

In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul was writing about the churches in Macedonia. Listen to the words. It says, “That in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.”

They were in a great trial and deep poverty. Verses 3-4 said that they gave beyond their ability. Verse 1 says that it came from God’s grace bestowed on them. They implored Paul urgently to let them be part of the ministry to help others in their need.

God’s grace abounds to us so that we are able to give freely. Think about when you fall into a trial. It is unexpected. There is no warning. Your life as it was before has taken a new course.

In my own life, when I fell into the ravine, everything that I did stopped. I was in intense pain, I could not breathe and talk at the same time. If someone was talking to me, I was three sentences behind them.

What did I do? I drew into myself in order to cope. My identity revolved around my health issues. I didn’t understand the power of God’s grace at that time of my life. It took many more trials before I learned to give out of my crucible of need.

Paul spoke to the Corinthians about their hearts. 2 Corinthians 6:11-12 says, “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our hearts are wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” !!

Does that speak to you? It is so easy to be caught up in our misery. That is satan’s tactic. Self-absorption. Pride causes us to look at our lack, rather than leaning hard on His abundant grace, which is always available to the humble. Like the Macedonians, our greatest joy and fulfillment is in reaching out to others in our need to meet their needs. It is being other minded.

I remember one time after the fall I was feeling so lonely. I was a shut-in because I had no strength to be out and about. I asked the Lord who else was lonely. He gave me a name. I called them. It was a mutually encouraging gift of grace.

When I finally could sew for five minutes at a time, I made beautiful pillow cases for other shut-ins. It was a labor of love. It took me a long time, but it was worth it because it was a gift from my heart. I encourage you today to freely give from your heart to someone in need: a card, a phone call, a text, or something that you make especially for them.

Our trials are His magnificent tools to conform us to His image. They bring us into weakness so that His strength is very evident to us and others. They are a testimony of His grace at work.

Paul’s trials were his credentials for ministry. He was highly educated, and a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Yet he counted those things as rubbish. Philippians 3:10 says, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

2 Corinthians 6:4-9 listed his credentials that empowered him for ministry. I’m stringing them for you: in much patience, tribulations, needs, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleeplessness, fastings, dishonor, evil report, deceivers, unknown, dying, chastened, sorrowful, poor, and having nothing.

Consider your own credentials. What trial by fire have you walked through? What deep waters have immersed you? What trial has stopped you in your tracks? What dark night of the soul have you been in? A. W. Tozer said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” 

Nothing has been in vain because God redeems it all. He has used every hard trial that you have been in to conform you to His image, and prepare you to walk in the fullness of what He has purposed for you.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:4, “But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God…” While abiding in Him in the crucible-trials these character fruits were developed. Purity, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, sincere love, truth, power, righteousness, honor, good report, true, well known, alive, rejoicing, rich, and possessing all things.

Trials are essential. They are strategically designed to equip us to minister to others. They build empathy that touches hurting hearts. They purify our faith so that it cannot be shaken in adversity. They empower us through His grace which enables us to endure. Endurance is a testimony that pleases Him.

Endurance is constancy, perseverance, bearing up, and it is the fruit of patience. James 1:4 says, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Trials bestow benefits that we lacked.

Yesterday I was thinking about our trials. They are like the soil that receives the seeds of the character the Lord wants to develop in us. Only He knows what character is needed to fulfill His purpose through our lives.

Years ago I was really struggling in a trial. The Lord spoke these words, “Nothing is in vain. I will redeem it all.” The words seemed incredulous. Nothing?

All trials are designed to impart something that we lack. The trial you are in right now is for your benefit. It is God’s best for you. When I fell head first into the six foot ravine in 1977, I had no clue what the Lord was doing. Since I didn’t remember the fall for three and a half years, I just thought my health was in a rapid decline.

Yet, the fall was His best. Through those bedridden years, He wooed me into a depth of relationship with Him that I had never experienced before.

He had to stop me in my tracks so I could learn to be still. In that stillness, He spoke to my heart. He brought me into deep intimate communion with Him. I have never been the same since that fall. It was a radical course-correction that impacted every aspect of my being.

There is another aspect of our trials. He uses them to encourage and strengthen others. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort., who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

He redeems everything that we have gone through. Nothing is in vain or wasted. Everything I write or speak comes through my intimate communion with Him. My brain injuries are my greatest assets. That fall developed character that could not have been formed in any other way.

I encourage you to embrace His best. Why? 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” He gives us the grace-strength we need to endure so that He will be glorified.