I've Lost Control

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-12 (NIV)

7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived;

you overpowered me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long;

everyone mocks me.

8 Whenever I speak, I cry out

proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the Lord has brought me

insult and reproach all day long.

9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word

or speak anymore in his name,”

his word is in my heart like a fire,

a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;

indeed, I cannot.

10 I hear many whispering,

“Terror on every side!

Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”

All my friends

are waiting for me to slip, saying,

“Perhaps he will be deceived;

then we will prevail over him

and take our revenge on him.”

11 But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;

so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;

their dishonor will never be forgotten.

12 Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous

and probe the heart and mind,

let me see your vengeance on them,

for to you I have committed my cause.