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Getting Mad at God

"Getting Mad at God" (Jeremiah 15:15-21)

Who is Jeremiah anyway and why is he complaining so much?
  • Jeremiah known as "the weeping prophet," famous for the "laments of Jeremiah"
  • 10 chapters of lamenting! (laments: songs, poems, expressions of deep grief and mourning)
  • During Jeremiah's prophet career, Babylonians conquer Jerusalem in 587, people are exiled
  • Jeremiah wants to give in, knowing the people will survive in the end
  • Brueggemann: "Better to submit to the empire than to be destroyed by the empire . . . [Jeremiah] can imagine the restoration of Jerusalem in radically new form."
  • Not a popular view, so Jeremiah gets powerful enemies and complains to God about those who persecute him
To deal with his anguish, his persecution—Jeremiah gets angry at God!
  • "Under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation."
  • "Truly, you are like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail."
  • Wadi—streambed that remains dry except in the rainy season
  • Compare this to Exodus where God parts the Red Sea or Amos' famous "let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream"!
  • Jeremiah is calling God a deceitful brook, a wadi—with waters that fail, fighting words!
Getting angry at God!
  • Regina Brett, columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, author of God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours
  • Wonders if she can get angry at God (breast cancer at 41), meets a Jesuit priest, Father Jim: "He told me that God wants a real, authentic, genuine relationship with us, the same kind of openness and honesty you have in a good marriage."
  • Father Jim struggled with a job transfer "he tried to play God's happy little servant, but it wasn't working"
  • Began saying his "Damn Prayer"—every day until he got it out of his system
  • "Once the anger was gone, there was room for something else. Peace. The slate was clean. Now God could write on it."
  • Or think about the famous poem "Footprints"—whether you think it's cheesy or fantastic, transformation occurs when the dreamer has a confrontation with Jesus—"Why when I have needed you most, you have not been there for me?"
  • Questions Jesus, a little bit of anger there?
  • Assurance that Christ cares and was helping all along, he was being carried
  • Jeremiah gets assured too, "They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you."
  • Both encounters are not one-sided conversations
The importance of having an honest, genuine, real relationship with God
  • Points to the human need to feel loved, to know that you are not alone and someone cares
  • To know that you can express emotions, even anger at or to the Divine
  • God can take us at our best and our worst, God can take our anger and our praise
  • Regina Brett: "God doesn't want us to be so holy we aren't human. God doesn't want fake prayers and phony praise. God wants an honest, genuine, real relationship."