Striving with God (2)

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Striving with God can refer both to the fruitless opposition of the ungodly to God’s will and purposes, and to the struggle of the righteous with God, as they seek to find his will and obey it.

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The striving of the wicked with God

It is the result of a guilty conscience

Acts 26:14 NKJV

And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Striving against God cannot succeed

2 Chronicles 13:12 NKJV

Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

It leads to the destruction of those who attempt it

Psalm 2:2–5 NKJV

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 bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:

Ways in which the wicked strive with God

By resisting the Holy Spirit

Acts 7:51 NKJV

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

By arguing with God

Romans 9:20 NKJV

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

Through unbelief

Nu 14:1–4; Nu 14:10–11; Nu 20:13; Ps 95:8–9

By attacking God’s people

Ac 5:39 To attack God’s people is to attempt to attack God himself.

See also Ac 9:4–5; 1 Sa 17:45; Is 37:22–25

Jacob strives with God

Ge 32:24–28 Jacob’s struggle with God represents the conflict within himself between self-will and dependence on God. As “Jacob”, the supplanter, he had overcome Esau and Laban, but God demonstrates his superior power in the wrestling match so that as “Israel” he will be submissive to the divine will.

The striving of the righteous with God

The struggle for righteousness

Acts 24:16 NKJV

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

See also 1 Ti 4:10; Lk 13:24; Ro 7:14–25; Php 3:10–14; 1 Co 9:25–27; Heb 12:4

The discipline of prayer

Colossians 4:12 NKJV

Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

The struggle to understand God’s purposes

Exodus 5:22–23 NKJV

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.”