With heart

Jeremiah 49: 4
Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?'

What have I been placing my security and trust in? In people? In church? In work? In grades? In talents? In possessions? And why?

The Great Wall of China was built as a defense mechanism against raids by nomadic people. But this wall didn't just keep the nomadic people out but it also kept the Chinese citizens in. People trusted the wall/ the government to keep them safe. Now, we build walls around us for the same reason. We trust the walls we've built rather than trusting God to be our protector. We keep adding bricks, earth and stone, making them stronger and longer every time something bad happens. Does this emotional wall do its job well? Personally, I think yes. It keeps the hurt, the pain, the disappointments that people bring when entering past those walls out. That's why many of us may have chosen to stay within our walls. But these walls also stop people from coming in. It keeps God from coming in and restoring us. God is in the business of mending the broken. He doesn't despise how bruised or battered or broken you are. Instead, He takes out his superglue of love to mend back and restore you to who you are supposed to be. Yet many times, we're afraid. Even after being fixed, we're afraid that someone would come in and mess things up again. We're afraid that we might have to clean up the mess that these "nomadic people" bring. But we forget who has been doing the actually cleaning up. We forget that God has been cleaning up all the dirt and hurt in our hearts and lives. So, are we trusting these man-made walls we have built for security? Is it time to ask God to tear down the walls we've built up inside?

"Let love tear down these walls"
- Hillsong United, Across The Earth: Tear Down The Walls - Tear Down The Walls

Jeremiah 9: 23-24
This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boasts of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight." declares the Lord.