“O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed.” – Prophet Jeremiah

Those are the words of the prophet Jeremiah; he was infuriated with God. He felt that even after he had obeyed God, God had beguiled him and left him in less-than-desirable circumstances (beaten and imprisoned).

Have you ever been angry with God? I have. One time I was so angry with him that I went two weeks without talking to him.

Like Jeremiah, I felt like God had deceived me, and I was deceived.

Every day I meet people who are indignant with God over circumstances that have happened to them, promises they feel God has defaulted on, prayers that seem to go unanswered, and hopes that get continually dashed.

What do you do?

For starters, don’t be like pastor Kojo and cut yourself off from God. On the other hand, learn from the prophet Jeremiah

1. Stop holding back – I love what Jeremiah did. He let it all out. He did an emotional dump on God. He withheld no punches. He told God exactly how he felt; he left nothing hidden. It may seem sacrilegious, disrespectful, a bit blasphemous, but it was honest. Thankfully, God can handle it. Are you angry with him? Tell him about it, don’t keep it in.

2. When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart – Despite Jeremiah feeling abandoned by God, he chose to believe that God had not abandoned him. In other words, he trusted God’s invisible presence over his visible circumstances. And even when he couldn’t understand God’s actions (i.e. his hands), he chose to believe in God’s character (i.e. his heart).

3. Practice the roll – Despite his anger, Jeremiah decided to “commit his cause to the Lord.” The word “commit” in Hebrew means to roll something over. Practicing the roll means committing your entire situation to the Lord even when it doesn’t make sense to you. So when you’re angry with God, roll over your crushed heart, shattered expectations, and disappointed outlook on him. The psalmist says, when we do that, he will act (Psalm 37:5).

Sometimes “God acting” looks like this;

• giving you a new perspective
• changing your circumstances
• giving you an explanation for His actions
• granting you peace which passes all understanding
• providing healing for your broken heart
• giving you something better than you would have expected