Jeremiah 17:9-11 is concerned with the deceitful and incurable heart of man and with the searching, test, and reward of Jehovah. "The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it? / I, Jehovah, search the heart / And test the inward parts, / Even to give to each one according to his ways, / According to the fruit of his doings. / As a partridge broods over what she has not laid, / A man makes riches but not rightly; / In the midst of his days they will leave him, / And at his end he will be a fool." Even this word regarding the deceitful and incurable heart of man is related to God's economy with His dispensing. Yes, man's heart is corrupt and deceitful; its condition is incurable. Nevertheless, even such a heart can be a tablet upon which God writes His law. Concerning this, Jehovah says, "I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts" (31:33). This reveals that God has a way to put Himself into man. Once He has come into man, God will spread from man's spirit into his heart. This is God's way, according to His economy, to deal with the heart of fallen man.
In 17:12-18 we have Jeremiah's trusting prayer to Jehovah. Jeremiah began his prayer by saying, "A throne of glory set on high from the beginning / Is the place of our sanctuary. / You are the hope of Israel, O Jehovah; / All who forsake You will be put to shame" (vv. 12-13a). Verse 13b goes on to say that those who turn away from Jehovah will be written in the earth because they forsook Him, the fountain of living waters. Then Jeremiah continues his prayer, saying, "Heal me, O Jehovah, and I will be healed; / Save me and I will be saved, / For You are my praise. / Behold, they say to me, / Where is the word of Jehovah? / Let it come now! / But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You, / And I have not desired a day of disaster. / You know that what came out of my lips / Was before Your face. / Do not become a terror to me; / You are my refuge in an evil day. / Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, do not let me be put to shame; / Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. / Bring upon them an evil day, / And break them with a double destruction" (vv. 14-18). We need to understand this trusting prayer according to God's economy and dispensing. In order to interpret this prayer correctly, we need to receive God, the speaking and dispensing One, into us.