I was sitting with a friend who felt discouraged by life’s ongoing struggles. She remarked about a particular family she knows—a family in a season of health, financial stability, and children who are all walking with the Lord.

“They are so blessed by God,” she said, almost wistfully.

Her response made me pause. Does God’s blessing always look like an easy, struggle-free life? If so, what does that mean for those in seasons of great suffering and hardship?

The Bible doesn’t shy away from stories of wrestling, of tension, of people who refuse to let go of God even when their circumstances seem unbearable. Sometimes, profound encounters with God come during seasons of restoration and ease. Other times, these encounters happen when wrestling with him, and the battle doesn’t mean we’re any less blessed.

God Is in the Struggle

Like my friend, many wonder where God is in the struggle. But Scripture reminds us that some of the most defining moments in faith happen in the wrestling. In Genesis 32, we encounter the powerful story of Jacob, whose life was marked by conflict, deceit, and struggle.

Some of the most defining moments in faith happen in the wrestling.

The pivotal moment of Jacob’s life occurs at the Jabbok River, where he has a strange and mysterious encounter with God. Jacob is alone, fearful, and preparing to face his estranged brother Esau after years of tension and deceit. But what happens next is unexpected: Jacob wrestles until dawn with a mysterious figure, later revealed to be God himself. The story continues:

When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (vv. 25–26, 29)

This moment of intense physical struggle is no simple encounter; it’s an intimate and transformative battle with God. Jacob doesn’t come to God in passive submission. He fights. He clings. He refuses to let go. Wrestling with God isn’t an act of defiance but of desperation—a fight to hold on to the very One we cannot live without.

Struggle Shapes Us

Jacob’s struggle reminds us that a deep encounter with God often comes at a cost. It’s one thing to question God out of bitterness, demanding answers from a distance. It’s another entirely to wrestle with him—to bring our doubts, fears, and frustrations into his presence and refuse to walk away. This kind of engagement isn’t easy. It requires vulnerability, perseverance, and the willingness to be changed.

Even Jesus wrestled in the Father’s presence. In the garden of Gethsemane, he cried out, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42, NIV). Jesus didn’t avoid the struggle—he entered into it fully. Wrestling with God isn’t a mark of weak faith; it’s the essence of real faith that’s unafraid to engage deeply with the One who holds all things.

Make no mistake—wrestling can leave a mark. Jacob leaves his encounter with God permanently changed. His hip is wounded, and he walks with a limp for the rest of his life. For us, the struggle may not result in a physical wound, but an encounter with God rarely leaves us unchanged. Wrestling with God may require surrendering a cherished dream, taking a risk in faith, or enduring a season of uncertainty. The struggle shapes us, leaving scars that tell the story of transformation.

Don’t Settle for Distant Faith

If you’re wrestling with God, don’t despair. Jacob’s story reminds us that the wrestling itself isn’t a sign of weak faith—it’s the mark of a faith that refuses to let go. Lean into the struggle not to prove your strength but to discover God’s. Bring your doubts, your anger, your fears before him. He isn’t afraid of them. In the wrestling, we don’t push God away; we press into him more deeply than we ever have before.

The struggle shapes us, leaving scars that tell the story of transformation.

Don’t settle for a distant faith that avoids hard questions. Don’t be afraid to hold on, even when you don’t have all the answers. The greatest growth often happens in the wrestling, not in the resolution. And if you walk away with a limp, take heart—because that limp is the mark of someone who has encountered God and been forever changed.