You have deceived me and I was deceived

O Lord, you have deceived me,
    and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
    and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
    everyone mocks me (Jer 20:7).

This is a controversial verse. Jeremiah vents his exasperation at God. He feels hoodwinked by God. 

Some scholars labor to remove the sting by offering a more pious translation. But that's a mistaken. Jeremiah is pouring his heart out to God. Expressing what's on his mind. 

It's not that God really deceived him. But it sure feels that way. This is an autobiographical report of Jeremiah's agitated state of mind. He's frustrated with God. He resents the fact that when God called him to be a prophet (cf. 15:16), God neglected to inform him of what lay in store. Jeremiah didn't agree to this. He thinks God should have leveled with him. 

That's not something translators ought to domesticate. God isn't insecure. It says something about God that he not only allows Jeremiah to lash out at him, but that he allowed this irreverent complaint to be recorded for posterity. 

Since we can't hide our true feelings from God, we might as well confess them. Prayer is confession. Even if our feelings are inappropriate–especially if our feelings our inappropriate–that's something to verbalize in prayer. Tell God what we feel about God, allowing for the fact that we may be wrong.

It's an artificial and unstable piety that bottles up our disappointments for fear of offending God. Our attitude is no secret to God. So we might as well get it out into the open in prayer. It's not that accusing God is a good thing. But suppressing accusatorial thoughts stokes mounting internal tension that may explode in a sudden renunciation of the faith. An outwardly devout Christian may crack overnight, because he kept pushing these misgivings to the back of his mind, pretending to be grateful when he was angry, praying pious sentiments. 

It's not the final straw that broke the camel's back, but all the previous straws–if allowed to pile up. Deal with each one as they come up.