Read today’s focal text and then ask yourself this question: Do I have the nerve to complain to God about God? Lord, why did You let that happen? Lord, why don’t You do something to make things better? Lord, why do evil people so often win?
The context for these verses in Jeremiah is a time of great military loss for Jeremiah’s people. (Some think that 2 Kings 23:31-37 tells what happened.) Whatever the circumstance, what impresses me is that Jeremiah does not pretend to understand; he does not pretend to think that all is okay. The prophet brings his real self to God, even wondering if God is to be blamed for these miserable days.
I don’t think God is fooled when we bring a “fake self” to God. The one who is fooled is myself, thinking I have tricked God into thinking I am a bit better than I really am. I am the one who is fooled!
Contrast that with the story of the man who brought his sick son to Jesus (Mark 9:14-29). Jesus told this father that good things can happen for those who believe. The man answers with the full truth: “I believe! I believe!” Then he added this plea of reality: “Help thou my unbelief” (King James Version).
Had you rather be a puppet who could speak only perfectly programmed lines, or had you rather be a human with free will and the ability to make mistakes? Rather than putting us on automatic pilot, God has created us so we can do wrong, even creating a culture where Sin, not Love, is sometimes the deciding force. Our decisions, our purposes, our actions have meaning because they are the result of choice, not simply on autopilot.
The prophet Jeremiah offers us many valuable insights and helpful accounts, but perhaps none is more valuable than these verses when he is totally authentic with God. The heading of these verses in my Revised Standard Version edition is “Jeremiah Complains to God.” I am invited by these verses to bring my real self—joys, doubts, angers, peace, uncertainty, trust—when I come before the Lord…in prayer, in thought, in deed, in life.
