35 Bible Verses about Striving With God

And when we had all gone down on the earth, a voice came to me, saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly? It is hard for you to go against the impulse which is driving you.

And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.

Wisdom and knowledge and wise suggestions are of no use against the Lord.

Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.

If then God gave them, when they had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the same as he gave to us, who was I to go against God?

The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying, Let their chains be broken, and their cords taken from off us. Then he whose seat is in the heavens will be laughing: the Lord will make sport of them.read more.
Then will his angry words come to their ears, and by his wrath they will be troubled:

The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small. A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him: He has no hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the sword;read more.
He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him: He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him: Because his hand is stretched out against God, and his heart is lifted up against the Ruler of all, Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,

You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

But, O man, who are you, to make answer against God? May the thing which is made say to him who made it, Why did you make me so?

Will he who is protesting give teaching to the Ruler of all? Let him who has arguments to put forward against God give an answer.

Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped? Cursed is he who says to a father, To what are you giving life? or to a woman, What are you in birth-pains with? The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, says, Will you put a question to me about the things which are to come, or will you give me orders about my sons, and the work of my hands?

Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping. And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land! Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?read more.
And they said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.

These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel went against the Lord, and they saw that he was holy among them.

Let not your hearts be hard, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the waste land; When your fathers put me to the test and saw my power and my work.

But if it is of God, you will not be able to overcome them, and you are in danger of fighting against God.

Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel on which you have put shame.

This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you. Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel. You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.read more.
I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.

And he went down on the earth, and a voice said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are attacking:

Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn. But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.read more.
Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.

The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts. In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God; He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;read more.
Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.

And in this, I do my best at all times to have no reason for shame before God or men.

Do your best to go in by the narrow door, for I say to you, A number will make the attempt to go in, but will not be able to do so.

For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin. And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do. But, if I do that which I have no mind to do, I am in agreement with the law that the law is good.read more.
So it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me. For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right. For the good which I have a mind to do, I do not: but the evil which I have no mind to do, that I do. But if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me. So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me. In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God, But I see another law in my body, working against the law of my mind, and making me the servant of the law of sin which is in my flesh. How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death? I give praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with my mind I am a servant to the law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.

And every man who takes part in the sports has self-control in all things. Now they do it to get a crown which is of this world, but we for an eternal crown. So then I am running, not uncertainly; so I am fighting, not as one who gives blows in the air: But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.

That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death; If in any way I may have the reward of life from the dead. Not as if I had even now got the reward or been made complete: but I go on in the hope that I may come to the knowledge of that for which I was made the servant of Christ Jesus.read more.
Brothers, it is clear to me that I have not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before, I go forward to the mark, even the reward of the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus.

And this is the purpose of all our work and our fighting, because our hope is in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and specially of those who have faith.

Till now you have not given your blood in your fight against sin:

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his love, ever taking thought for you in his prayers, that you may be complete and fully certain of all the purpose of God.

And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of our sins.

And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.

And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me? For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.

Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes;

Lord, why have you sent away my soul? why is your face covered from me? I have been troubled and in fear of death from the time when I was young; your wrath is hard on me, and I have no strength. The heat of your wrath has gone over me; I am broken by your cruel punishments. read more.
They are round me all the day like water; they have made a circle about me. You have sent my friends and lovers far from me; I am gone from the memory of those who are dear to me.

How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation. Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument. For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted.