The Prophet Jeremiah is talking about nourishment. He tells the Israelites and us that people who trust in mere humans, who depend on human strength, are like a desert shrub. It lives in the parched places of the wilderness, in a barren land where no one survives.
But people who trust in the Lord, who rely on the Lord will be like trees planted by the streams. Trees who are nourished and refreshed because their roots reach down to the water. They are in continual contact with the source of life and renewal. There is no fear of drought or heat, because they are connected to a never-failing source of nourishment.
Jeremiah was using a common understanding of the people to emphasize the importance for people of faith to have sustainable spiritual nourishment. Spiritual nourishment, finding our spiritual food is what we are talking about this morning.
How does a person of faith find spiritual nourishment? The answers to that question might be obvious. But the reality might be that we are good at knowing the answers but not quite so good at putting the answers into practice. Today, we want to highlight four spiritual food groups or four ways we can obtain the necessary nourishment for our spiritual lives.
1. Scripture
2. Worship
3. Prayer
4. Fellowship
Through the centuries there have been many well-meaning people who have been tripped up by the so-called Apocalyptic writings in the scriptures. We look at these scriptures each year during…