Jeremiah 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Often when I hear Jeremiah 17:8 quoted my mind goes right to Psalm 1:3. They are so similar in content it sounds as if Jeremiah is repeating Psalm 1:3. There are subtle differences and to point out those difference seems trite. I have often said that God loves to be quoted, so do not make something of nothing.

There is however one of those subtle differences which leaps out at me in the midst of all that repetition and that is the change in gender tense. In Jeremiah he changes to the feminine tense, from him to her. In this we should relate Jeremiah’s quote as it applies to the bride where Psalm 1 is personal in nature.

My takeaway from this deals with the behavior of the individual within the body of believers. We gather in local church bodies and in doing so, we align ourselves to faith based practices of that congregation. We should as individuals reflect the same faith based beliefs and practices as the rest of the church. We do not as individuals have the right to expect the rest of a church to realign their faith practices just because we believe otherwise.

If you find that to be true then there are only two conditions that matter, your roots and the water source. If the water source is right, then your roots need to be transplanted. If the water source is wrong, then it is time to move on.