Lord, you tricked me, and I was fooled.
You are stronger than I am, so you won.
I have become a joke;
everyone makes fun of me all day long.
Every time I speak, I shout.
I am always shouting about violence and destruction.
I tell the people about the message I received from the Lord,
but this only brings me insults.
The people make fun of me all day long.
Sometimes I say to myself,
“I will forget about the Lord.
I will not speak anymore in his name.”
But then his message becomes like a burning fire inside me,
deep within my bones.
I get tired of trying to hold it inside of me,
and finally, I cannot hold it in.
I hear many people whispering about me:
“Terror on every side!
Tell on him! Let’s tell the rulers about him.”
My friends are all just waiting for me to make some mistake.
They are saying,
“Maybe we can trick him
so we can defeat him
and pay him back.”
But the Lord is with me like a strong warrior,
so those who are chasing me will trip and fall;
they will not defeat me.
They will be ashamed because they have failed,
and their shame will never be forgotten.
These are not my words, they are Jeremiah’s words (Jeremiah 20:7-11) but some days I feel like saying words similar to these….I try to live in the way God would have me live but it seems I get cheated, lied to, taken advantage of, feelings of loneliness or any myriad of other offenses the devil throws at me. Yet each and every day You give me the strength to continue on. You give me a husband who listens to my ranting, You give me friends who “listen” via email, You give me opportunities to come to You for guidance and wisdom, You give me forgiveness when I completely fail and You give me the words of prophets who some days probably felt like throwing in the towel….but didn’t. Lord you are my strong warrior and I trust YOU will continue to tweak my attitude until at long last it shines like Your Son.