You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. – Jeremiah 20:7

Today's Scripture Reading (July 17, 2026): Jeremiah 20

In the late 1960's, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice penned their conception of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ. "Jesus Christ, Superstar" has proven to be an enduring image, and the songs of the Rock Opera have carried the cries of the human side of Jesus to every generation since the opera was first written and performed. For me, one of the most moving scenes in the Webber-Rice tale takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is there that Jesus is confronted with the cross on which he will die, there that Jesus strains against the will of God, wondering if all of this is worth it, and there that he wonders about the goal that they are trying to reach. It is in Gethsemane that Jesus wrestles with everything that is about to happen. Near the end of the prayer, Jesus finally gives in to his Father's plan. The words that Rice places in the mouth of Jesus at this moment are –

God, thy will is hard, but you hold every card.
I will drink your cup of poison.
Nail me to your cross and break me.
Bleed me, beat me, kill me, take me now.
Before I change my mind.

The sentiments of the words are only partially the product of Rice's imagination. The Gospel record does record that Jesus struggled with the path he was to take. But the reality is that, as much as some portions of the Christian Church seem to want us to believe otherwise, sometimes God's will is difficult. John the Baptist seemed to struggle at the end of his life, wondering if Jesus was really the one who was to come or whether they were waiting for someone else. And in this passage, it is Jeremiah who is questioning the will of God.

Specifically, Jeremiah's complaint goes back to the beginning of Jeremiah's prophetic writings. At the moment when Jeremiah was called, he had excused himself. He was too young, and he did not have the words that were needed for such a task. But in that moment God's reply to Jeremiah was "Do not say, 'I am too young.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you" (Jeremiah 1:7-8). But in this moment, years into the God mission he had accepted, Jeremiah is not sure that God is true to his word. He spoke the words that God had placed in his heart, yet it did not seem that God was with him or that God had been ready to rescue him.

But the story was not over, not yet. God still had further places to carry Jeremiah. But sometimes it is in the midst of the story that we stop feeling him. And that is why faith is so important for all of us, because with the eyes of faith, we know that God is with us. He is with us even in the moments when we question him the most.     

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 46