Crying Out to the God Who Hearsنموونە

Learning to wrestle in Prayer

In the previous posts, we found encouragement to cry out to the Lord who hears and redeems. But what happens when we pray, plead, and cry out – but nothing seems to change? What do we do when it feels like God is silent, distant, or even uninterested?

In such seasons, we are incredibly vulnerable to the lies of the enemy. He would have us believing that God doesn’t care or that our prayers don’t matter. And if we listen to those lies, our hearts may become hardened, and our faith may begin to weaken. There are many responses that we could be encouraged by in such seasons. But here, I’d like to suggest one: we need to wrestle with the Lord.

The idea of “wrestling with God” first appears in Scripture from the story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32. In the night, Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). And God did bless him—changing his name and thus renewing his confidence in God’s promises.

Sometimes we cry out to the LORD, as the people did in Psalm 107, but it seems like God is silent or unmoved. Can I encourage us not to give up, but to wrestle with the Lord in prayer? Not because He didn’t hear us the first time, but because the wrestling itself does something in us. It strengthens, humbles, and reshapes us.

"Wrestle in prayer" may sound like saying, ‘Lord, I know You hear me. I’ve seen You rescue Your people from their troubles throughout history. But right now, Lord, You don’t seem to be lifting my troubles. I’m becoming weary and doubtful. But Jesus, I’m going to keep crying to You until You renew my faith.’

This kind of wrestling requires us to know God’s word. We need to know what He has promised and what He has not. Otherwise, we risk crying out in anger for God not being what we imagined Him to be, rather than clinging to Him as He truly is.

And as we wrestle, we may find that a blessing may come – perhaps not in the form we would expect. For Jacob, the blessing was a new name and a renewed assurance of God’s presence and faithfulness.

For Jesus, who “offered prayers and petition, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of His reverence” (Hebrews 5:7), the blessing was strength. We know that Jesus was not saved from physical death, but we read in Luke 22:41-44 that as He prayed in Gethsemane, an angel of the LORD came to strengthen Him. So, the blessing that came for Jesus after His wrestling in prayer was that He was strengthened to complete the mission, to drink the cup, and face the anguish of the Cross.

Sometimes the blessing we receive is peace in the midst of suffering. Not a change in circumstances, but that peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). A peace that says, “This is still hard, but it is in God’s hands, and I can rest in Him, knowing that He is good and He loves me.”

In my experience, there are times when the blessing is a gentle rebuke. Here, the Lord shines light on some false belief or misguided expectation that we have, which is at the heart of our distress. We have been suffering because we have believed something that is not true about God, or we have misinterpreted what His word says. And it is only as we wrestle with God that He shows us where we have misunderstood His Word or His character. Though humbling, this correction leads to repentance, deeper understanding, and renewed peace.

Beloved, the Lord is the one who is able to keep us from falling. When we feel like we’re losing the battle, it is to Him that we must run, crying out to Him in prayer. He holds us fast even when it feels like we’re letting go. And the amazing mystery of it all is that even our desire to pray—even the faintest cry for help—is itself a work of His grace. It is proof that He has not abandoned us but is still drawing us to Himself.

So, let us not give up. Keep crying out to the Lord. And trust that His steadfast love will meet you where you are.