These statements from both Jesus and Jeremiah can be very comforting. Or, they can be very disconcerting depending on where on the spectrum we see ourselves. But none of these seem as all encompassing, nor as final as the last one which comes from Jeremiah's prophecy. "Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength. … Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord."

We are a country, a people, that claim to put our trust in God. We even have that written on every piece of currency printed. But yet, what are the characteristics we are most proud of in a national sense? The proto-American is self-made, independent, self confident, self-assured. The truly successful person, one we all admire and hope to emulate is the entrepreneur - the person who made it all on his or her own. Pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Overcame adversity through the power and determination of their own wills.

In spite of what it says on our dollar bills, we, as a people, put our trust in ourselves. We are a fiercely self-dependent people. We tend to look down on people who accept welfare because they haven't worked hard enough, sacrificed enough, tried hard enough. They have not lived up to our potential. We reward and honor the hard worker, the proud, the driven.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with working hard or in being proud of our own accomplishments. But when we use our expectations of success as the measure of someone's worth, what does it say about our value as human beings? What does it say about God and how God looks at us?

Blessed are the self-confident. Woe to the meek. Blessed are the self-made. Woe to the socially marginalized. Blessed are those who rely on themselves. Woe to those that rely on anything or anyone else.

That's not what Jesus taught. Jesus consistently taught that God's sense of value doesn't come from what we have or what we've accomplished. Our value to God comes from who we are and whose we are. And that simply is that we are children of God. That is where our value is defined. Nothing else matters to God. It doesn't matter to God if we are poor or rich, hungry or full, crying or laughing. We are God's children always and forever. God loves you, now and forever. What matters is the trust issue.

In whom do we put our trust? Do we rely on God and our relationship to him as child? Or do we rely on our selves as independent beings responsible for our own destinies? If we are blessed by trusting in God and cursed by trusting in ourselves, how does this relate to the dichotomy Jesus seems to be setting up in the beatitudes: blessed are the poor, woe to the rich? That seems to imply that God likes the poor best.

As is probably true for most of us, I have never been rich but I have never been poor. I have been very well fed but I have never been hungry. I have laughed and I have cried. I have been well liked and I have been shunned. As I look back at when times were good, at least good in terms of worldly success, the link between Jeremiah's words and Jesus' becomes a little more clear.

When things are going well, career success is coming easily, money is not a major problem, relationships are going well, it is easy to fall into the trap of assuming that we have made it so. We've worked hard. We've struggled. And now we can enjoy the rewards of our effort. When it comes to material success, that's probably true to a great extent. The world does reward us for using our talents well. The danger, though, is to decide that all of life fits into that model. It seems easier to ignore God, to skip church, to forget our prayers when things are going well.

But, when things are not going well where do we turn? To God. To the church. We all know people that have come to the church only after a tragedy. How many people do you know that started coming to church because of a tremendous success? Listen to something in the service today. At the prayers of the people, listen to the number of requests for prayers for the sick and those in need. Compare that to the number of prayers of thanksgiving that are requested.

When things go wrong in our lives, we are all quick to look up to heaven and say, "God, how am I going to deal with this latest crisis? Where am I going to find the money to pay this bill? Where will my next meal come from? I need your help and direction?" And Jesus says that that is what we are supposed to do. Call on God when we have needs. Trust in God to help us deal with our problems. That's why he calls the poor and hungry blessed. Because they, we, are more ready to trust in God. To turn to him. To admit their inability to handle the situation themselves. To exhibit the kind of trust Jeremiah would call blessed.

It is often in the darkest moments of our lives that we experience most clearly the love of God in Christ. It is during this "dark night of the soul" when we become most vulnerable to God and open ourselves up to him. That is when we realize the sheer folly of trying to rely on our own strengths to met our needs and we come to rely on God for even the strength to wake up the next morning. And we do wake up. And we do feel strengthened. And we come to realize that God is faithful and our trust was not in vein. Hopefully, we will take this trust with us as the days improve and things look brighter. But, often we don't. We reserve our trust in God's love for those times of darkness and put Him away when the sun shines.

When life is good. When our bellies are full, our wallets comfortably fat, our reputation well received do we exhibit the same kind of trust? Do we call on God and say, "How would you have me use the income I have accumulated. What would you like me to do with my resources? What do you have in store for me with this fine reputation?" They are the rewards of our effort; therefore, we should be able to use them as we see fit. That's why Jesus cries "Woe".

It's not that wealth; health and reputation are bad. It's that we so easily forget that all that we have, all that we are and all that we do are gifts of God. That's not to say that God makes some people successful and others not. But it does mean that the talents we have, that we use to better our lives, are gifts from God. God did not make Rembrandt a successful painter. God gave him the talent to draw and the imagination to dream. Rembrandt chose to put those to good use.

I don't know if Rembrandt recognized where his talent came from. But, I do know that Jesus would say that if he thought his artistic success was the result of his own strength, woe to him. We cannot trust in ourselves and trust in God at the same time. We can not be cursed and blessed. We can trust in the talents and abilities God has given us, and we can trust that God will show us how to use them. But we must never forget that we are simply stewards of the tools God has lent us.

There are those who have resources that see their wealth and plenty as an opportunity and in fact an obligation to do ministry. To give back to God, through his children, the riches God has allowed them to acquire. These are not the cursed rich of Luke, they are truly blessed because they trust in God and the actions of their lives show it. But woe to those that see their success as the fruit of their own labor. Their material wealth will never buy spiritual fulfillment.

In whom do we put our trust? If the answer is ourselves, our nation, our church, our family, woe to us. If the answer is God and God alone, we are blessed indeed.