Drowning and Wrestling...

S.K. Caraway
Sep 25
3 min read

The rent is due, but you’ve recently lost your job. The car suddenly spews hot liquid all over the hood. You don’t know the problem, but you know it’s major and must be repaired now. Your health insurance has been cancelled, how will you pay for your prescriptions? Your roof is leaking, you're constantly fighting with your spouse, and the kids are acting out. There’s more month than money, and you’re at the end of your tether. You beseech God through fasting and prayer, awaiting any minute your change, your blessing, your mountain moved. But when you awake the next day, the next month or even year, there’s no change. So why keep praying, why sleep, it only gets you to tomorrow.

We’ve all had days, months, and even years like this when you wonder if you’re losing your mind along with your hope and faith. You’re too mentally exhausted to pray any longer, and beyond angry that after offering your devotion, God has permitted so much on your plate without so much as a slight sign of relief. You’re at your point of giving up because praying has done no good. Reaching out to a friend? Friends are struggling too, and family only makes you feel like a failure, how could they understand your struggle? And now you’re conflicted about your own feelings, and the feeling of anger toward God. Your heart, mind, and spirit are all drowning and wrestling with God and what feels like His disregard. What does it mean to wrestle with God?

Sometimes wrestling with God is about going back repeatedly in prayer over something that is confusing us that He has said or that is happening in our lives. Sometimes, the wrestling looks a bit like negotiating with God, and at other times it looks like reminding God of his promises while asking Him to act. It can means to engage in a profound, intimate, and often difficult struggle with God, seeking understanding, guidance, or blessings.

The story of Jacob, Genesis 32:22-32, symbolizes the struggle for blessing and identity, showing how wrestling with God can lead to transformation and a deeper relationship with Him. Now, most may not believe that Jacob actually wrestled with God. But Jacob believed his experience to have been a supernatural encounter. Abraham wrestled with God about his nephew Lot's bad decisions. Moses wrestled with God about the rebellious Israelites. Job wrestled with God about his suffering. Job is a good and righteous man who suffers unbearable tragedies; he and his friends try to figure out why such disasters have happened to him. The book addresses the perennial problem of the suffering of the innocent.

But what does it take to remain faithful and willing to wait on God's plan? It involves perseverance, not letting go even in uncertainty, and can result in personal growth, a new identity, or a deeper faith, even if it means accepting powerlessness before God's ideal. This struggle isn't about literally fighting God but about a sincere, tenacious engagement with one's faith, doubts, and challenges to receive God's favor and blessing. It also helps to talk with God, sometimes even when we're angry, upset, or impatient...

● Go ahead and say it to God anyway. Say whatever is on your mind.

● Ask someone to pray for and with you.

● Think of what you're grateful for.

● Pray for someone else.

● Say the Lord's Prayer or the 23rd Psalm. This beautifully explains three main points: God's provision, protection, and peace on this earth.

● Sing a hymn, dedicated to the goodness of God.

● Go for a walk and talk with God.

Never be afraid to go to God in sincere reverence, heart, and spirit. He's there for you. I wish you many blessings on your spiritual journey...amen.