The need for a cure

The human condition can probably be summed up in verse 9 of this chapter.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)

If you think about all the problems in this world, it comes down to the hearts of people. 

Our hearts are deceitful.  Our hearts deceive others.  Our hearts even deceive ourselves.

Jeremiah talks about people who deceive others in order to gain wealth. But in doing so, they deceive themselves into thinking that they have found the path to happiness. 

Jeremiah says of them,

When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.  (Jeremiah 17:11)

Others turn away from God thinking that it will allow them to enjoy life more.  That God is just trying to take away their fun. 

But Jeremiah points out,

All who forsake you will be put to shame. 

Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.  (13)

In other words, life is found only in God, and in walking away from him, people ultimately lose their lives because they’ve walked away from the source of  life.

Others scoff at the words of God, thinking they’re meaningless babble.  They say,

Where is the word of the Lord?  Let it now be fulfilled!  (15)

The Lord’s word will be fulfilled.  And if these people don’t turn from their sin, when the day of judgment comes, their scoffing will turn into weeping and regret.

We may deceive others.  We may even deceive ourselves.  But we’re not fooling God. 

And he warns us,

I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.  (10)

Our hearts are sick and stained with sin.  And we don’t have the power to heal ourselves.  We are beyond human remedy. 

No matter how hard we try, we cannot make ourselves righteous in the eyes of God.  Instead we continually fall into the same patterns of sin that leads to death.

Where is the hope then?  Only in God.  All we can do is pray as Jeremiah did,

Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.  (14)

Through the blood of Jesus, our sins have been paid for at the cross.  And through the work of the Spirit, he cleanses us from the inside out, washing away the stain of sin, and making us holy.

How about you?  Do you see the need for a cure in your own life?  Do you see the sin that seems to hold you captive? 

Turn to Jesus, and he will heal you and set you free.