Scripture Notes: You Duped Me! (Jeremiah 20)

“You duped me, Lord,” Jeremiah cries out in frustration. The life of a prophet is not at all what he expected it to be. No one wants to listen to the message God gives through Jeremiah. In fact, most people despise the prophet for daring to speak God’s words, words they do not want to hear, words that warn them of dreadful things to come unless they repent and turn back to God.

But they do not want to repent. They do not want to abandon their idols and sins. They do not want to turn back to God. They have become entrenched in their own ideas and desires, in their passions and conflicts. They have long been hedging their bets with other “gods,” hoping that if God will not listen to them, someone else might give them what they long for, worldly wealth, worldly honor, worldly power.

So Jeremiah’s prophetic efforts are met with ridicule and even violence. He finds himself locked up in the guardhouse, threatened and mistreated. He even ends up down a cistern, sunk into the muck at the bottom. So his cries to God are perfectly understandable.

Yet Jeremiah also knows that God has supported him throughout his prophetic journey. Every time God has given the prophet words to speak, He has also given him strength to speak and to bear the consequences, however unpleasant those may be. Deep down, Jeremiah loves and trusts God immensely, and this is one of the reasons he feels like he can express his frustration, complaints, and even anger in prayer. God listens and responds.

In the end, Jeremiah breaks out into praise. He is still frustrated, still upset, still completely miffed that his prophetic efforts have produced so little fruit and so much scorn. Yet even in his grumbles, he knows God loves him and loves His sinful people. Otherwise, He would not be sending a prophet at all.