	Bob Hostetler > Devotions

The Long and Short of It

by Bob Hostetler

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water (Jeremiah 17:7-8a).

The great historian J. A. Froude once wrote, "One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness, that the world is built somehow on moral foundations, that in the long run it is well with the good, and in the long run it is ill with the wicked."

That was Jeremiah's message to his people. It is a message that is echoed in strikingly similar terms in Psalm 1, and elsewhere in God's Word. "The man who trusts in the Lord. . . . will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream."

Jeremiah did not say that such a person will never know hardships, trials, or temptations; he made it clear that heat and drought will come even to the righteous (verse 8). But the person who trusts in God will be strengthened--even blessed--through such tough times, while the person whose heart turns away from the Lord will not even see and appreciate times of prosperity.

In other words, Froude was right. In the long run it is well for the good, and ill for the wicked. The wise man or woman lives for the long run.

Prayer: Eternal God, help me, in the "here and now," to live for the "there and then."

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