35 Bible Verses about Striving With God
Most Relevant Verses
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper.
Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us.
So then, if God gave them the same gift as he did unto us, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I should withstand God?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.read more.
Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.
The wicked man travails with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the violent. Fearful sounds are in his ears; in peace the destroyer shall come upon him. He will not believe that he shall return out of darkness, and he is always watching the sword.read more.
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is prepared for him. Tribulation and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. Because he extended his hand against God and strengthens himself against the Almighty, he shall run him through in the neck, upon the thick shoulder pieces of his shields;
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye.
Rather, O man, who art thou to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? Let him that disputes with God answer this.
Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What doth thou make; thy work has no form? Woe unto him that says unto his father, Why dost thou beget? or to the woman, Why hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come; inquire of me concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands.
Then all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, Oh, that we might die in the land of Egypt or that we might die in this wilderness! And why has the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Would it not be better for us to return into Egypt?read more.
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
These are the waters of Meribah; over which the sons of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.
harden not your heart, as in the provocation and as in the day of trials in the wilderness When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
but if it is of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest ye be found fighting against God.
Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of the hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast dishonoured.
This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him, Has he despised thee? Has he laughed thee to scorn O virgin daughter of Zion? Has he shaken his head behind thy back O daughter of Jerusalem? Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By the hand of thy slaves thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots I shall come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir trees thereof; and I will enter into the height of his border and the forest of his Carmel.read more.
I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet shall I dry up all the rivers of sustenance.
and falling to the earth, he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I AM Jesus whom thou dost persecute; it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was disjointed as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.read more.
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast fought with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
The LORD also has a controversy with Judah to visit Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and with his strength he overcame the angel; yea, he dominated the angel and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us;read more.
but the LORD is God of the hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
And for this reason do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.
Strive to enter in at the narrow gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able.
For we now know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold unto subjection by sin. For that which I do, I do not understand, and not even the good that I desire is what I do; but what I hate, that is what I do. If then I do that which I do not desire, I approve that the law is good.read more.
So that it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. And I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing; for I have the desire, but I am not able to perform that which is good. For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not desire, that I do. And if I do that which I do not desire, I am not working, but sin that dwells in me. So that, desiring to do good, I find this law: evil is natural unto me. For I delight with the law of God with the inward man, but I see another law in my members which rebels against the law of my mind, bringing captive unto the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus, the Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as unto an uncertain thing; so I fight, not as one that beats the air; but I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection, lest preaching to others, I myself should become reprobate.
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained it, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if I may lay hold of that for which I have also been laid hold of by the Christ, Jesus.read more.
Brethren, I do not reckon to have laid hold of it yet, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and extending myself unto those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
For this we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ, salutes you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand firm, perfect and fulfilled in all the will of God.
And there is none that calls upon thy name, that wakes himself up to take hold of thee; therefore, thou hast hid thy face from us and hast allowed us to wither in the power of our iniquities.
And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Then Moses returned unto the LORD and said, Lord, why hast thou so afflicted this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has afflicted this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.
Why then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the spirit and no eye had seen me!
I shall meditate that I might understand this; it is very hard for me to see.
LORD, why dost thou cast off my soul? why dost thou hide thy face from me? I am afflicted and destitute; from my youth up I have feared thee and been in awe of thee. Thy fierce wrath goes over me; thy terrors have cut me off.read more.
They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Thou hast put lover and friend far from me, and placed my acquaintances into darkness.
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear; and raise my voice unto thee because of the violence, and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity and cause me to behold grievance and destruction and violence before me, in addition to those that raise up strife and contention? Therefore the law is weakened, and the judgment does not go forth true: for the wicked compasses about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.
