Wrestling with the Word of God

 Have you ever wrestled with the word of God? You read Bible truth, but your experience and your prayers  resulted in a different reality. You wrestled with God over His word. What He promised He would do it appeared He did not do. You did mental gymnastics trying to  reason your way through the discrepancy of your experience and God's truth. Does God keep His word? Is He a promise keeper or a promise breaker you may have wondered? These are legitimate questions. 

Is there one single verse in the Bible that is not true? Can people really stand on God's word and His assurances to us? Have you ever wrestled with the word of God?

You may read verses like Matt 7:7-8. You may have asked, sought, and knocked, but you did not receive, you did not find, and the door was not opened for you. Maybe you  read and prayed Mark 11:23-24, but your mountain did not move. You might have read Jn 14:14 and asked in Jesus name, but you did not receive what you asked for? There are multiple other verses that could be cited and the out comes be the same. What is the answer? Is it some preacher double talk making excuses for God's failures? Is there some other insight that has not been considered?

Walk with God long enough and you will come upon an experience when it appears God did not keep His word. What do you do then? John the Baptist faced such a moment. He doubted Jesus was the Messiah. He sent people to get an answer to his question. Jesus answered in a mysterious way that the blind received their sight, the lame walked, but blessed are those who did not stumble on account of Him. To put that another way, Jesus responded by saying blessed is the person who does not understand Him, but trusts and follows Him anyway. 

There is a tiny part of many Christians who read God's word and apply it in prayer while thinking they know the best way for God to answer. They figure out in their minds the way they think God ought to work to give them the desired result. Be very careful and repentant if such thinking enters your mind. You are in essence saying, "God I know how to run the affairs of my life better than you do." That is blasphemous. Sovereign God knows what He is doing. There will be many times when it appears He failed and let His people down. Trust Him anyway. 

I cite two old testament and one new testament example. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually put in prison for a false accusation by a lustful woman, whom Joseph rejected her sexual advances. Sitting in prison recalling his freedom, it must have felt like God failed him. Fast forward. In one day God promoted Joseph from prison to the palace second in command over the land. God did that to preserve His covenant people Israel from perishing in a drought. That would not have happened if Joseph did not get sold into slavery. 

After Joseph died and Pharaoh died, another ruler reigned in Egypt. When he saw the swelling population of Israel he feared. The people of Israel became slaves. Generation after generation begged God for deliverance but still died slaves. Did they feel God let them down? Eventually God raised Moses to deliver them from their bondage. It seemed like God was not keeping His word to Abraham about making him the father of a great nation. In reality, God kept His word. During the slavery years, the Israelites multiplied into millions of people. It was then that God brought them out slavery in miraculous fashion as a whole nation of people. God did just what He promised Abraham He would do. 

In Acts 8, after Stephen was stoned to death, persecution hit the church. This caused Christians to scatter to the surrounding regions outside of Jerusalem. Saul was arresting Christian men and women and hauling them to prison. It did not appear that what God promised in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8 were true. The reality was God scattered His people so the gospel could be taken to Judea, Samaria, and the far parts of the world. God kept His word after all. 

You may wrestle with God's word compared to your experience. You only see in part while God always sees the whole picture. He knows what He is doing, and therefore can be trusted. In your wrestling with the word of God, put this in the back of your mind. You only see part of the puzzle with several key pieces missing. You cannot make out the whole picture from your vantage point. God holds those missing pieces and knows WHERE and WHEN to place them in the puzzle so that it makes sense and it glorifies Him. Don't judge God too hastily or harshly. You just have not seen the full picture yet. Give God time and watch what He does. He will always vindicate His faithfulness when given time.