10 bible verses for when you’re wrestling with God

Have you ever wondered about the term “wrestling with God”?

It comes from the story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32:22-32. He’s on a long journey approaching his brother, with whom he has a difficult relationship. On the way, he meets a mystery man in the middle of the night and wrestles with him until morning. He gets the man in a hold, and refuses to let go without a blessing.

The man blesses Jacob by changing his name to Israel, saying that he “struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 

Is there any other god in the history of all religions who invites us to fight with him?

In times of hardship, failure, grief, and pain, or maybe more so in the aftermath, God welcomes us to engage with him, to lean in, to fight through it. And in so doing, to grow and mature from that time. 

It kind of goes against everything we’ve been taught, right? A tough job situation, a house flood, a dead car, sickness, unfulfilled dreams, etc. They make us think:

What’s wrong?

Is it my fault?

Why is this happening to me?

Why would God do this?

It’s time to quit. 

When times are rough, when I have conflict with someone, or if things are even just a bit uncomfortable, all I want to do is bury my head in the sand until the storm passes. 

Those are questions that aren’t easy to answer.

There are times when things happen just because we live in a fallen, dying world. There are times when God is testing our faith (and cheering us on towards him).

But either way, God doesn’t want us to give up during these times. He wants us to fight through the pain, fear, difficulties, etc, to seek him. Which often for me means struggling to understand him better and fighting the temptation to give up, even as everything pushes me in the other direction.

I don’t mean to make light of or oversimplify serious situations – things like violence, tragedy, and abuse. I definitely don’t believe that you should “just pray about it”, or that “everything happens for a reason”. 

But in my pain, I have to go to God – I may not be able to understand the situation, but God can and wants to heal my heart. And yours too. These are situations that can actually bring us closer to him, the God who wants to bind up our wounds, hold us closer than ever, and see us grow.

Are you looking for true healing? For lasting growth and a changed heart? Maybe it’s time to get in the ring.

Here are 10 Bible verses for when you’re wrestling with God.

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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – James 1:2-4 NIV

Pure joy. That’s definitely not my typical reaction to trials. Think upward and ahead, instead of looking around. God has good in store, and he is growing you. 

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” – Romans 8:17-18 NIV

First, as a parent, I don’t want my kids to silently struggle through something on their own. I want them to talk with me and engage with me. Often they don’t see the bigger picture when I say “no” or they don’t get what they want. How much more does God want to help us get through our disappointments?

Second, glory is coming, unparalleled to our pain. If you feel like you’re at the bottom, consider how far up you have to go. 

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NIV

We’re not meant to have it all together or be able to figure it out on our own. We glorify God even more when we can’t. And he doesn’t leave us absolutely defeated and demolished along the way. He is with us. We’re down, but not out. This is a promise. 

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV 

Take a look at Paul’s life and all he went through – his troubles were not what I would consider “light and momentary”! He’s making the point that in comparison to what’s waiting for us, what we’re going through now will seem so small, no matter how big it feels right now. 

“We do not what you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us…” – 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 NIV

These are some of Paul’s self-described “light and momentary troubles”. They weren’t anything to sneer at. I love verse 9 – basically they felt practically dead, and yet God raises the dead. What a perspective change! How big is your God?

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV

We can write God off in our suffering. How could he understand? Why would he care? But God doesn’t ask us to do anything he didn’t do. He became a human being and lived the struggles we go through. He relates to us and sympathizes. 

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” – Isaiah 40:27-29 NIV

A promise to which we can cling. 

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In your our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.” – Psalm 22:1-5 NIV 

This is just one of David’s many very real prayers to God. He spoke how he truly felt with God, and had the reputation for being “a man after God’s own heart”. For more inspiration, you should read more of his Psalms – in many of them, he struggled through his feelings to eventually trust in God by the end. His prayers changed his heart.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” – 1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV

“…And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” – Hebrews 12:1b-3 NIV

Jesus engaged as fully as possible, through the ultimate pain and despair, for the joy ahead. He is the reason we can endure what we go through. 

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How about you?

Do you notice a difference between running away from something challenging, and tackling it head-on? Have you wrestled with God through something in your life? What was the outcome?

Scriptures are quoted from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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All photos by Ben White on Unsplash