Pro Wrestling

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Why does the life of faith have to be such a struggle? Am I doing something wrong?

We tend to approach the journey of faith like a formula to solve rather than the art of learning to be human as God intended. If something is difficult, we reject it or assume we’re doing something wrong. Yet what we find in the Scriptures is accounts of men and women who wrestled deeply through matters of faith— even wrestling with God himself. And we find that they are not only strengthened as a result, but come to a deeper knowledge and awe of God as well.

In fact, I would argue that if we are not wrestling, we are not growing. And stagnant, stale faith definitely falls under the category of getting it wrong. 

The People of Israel

Early in the biblical narrative, God chose a people to whom he would reveal himself. He gave them the law to help them flourish and live well. He revealed his love and character to them and promised to walk with them always. This people was named after one man: Jacob. But it wasn’t until Jacob had a profound encounter with God that his name was changed to Israel, and his descendants have carried that name to this day. 

In Scripture, names matter. They reveal identity and destiny. This makes the name Israel especially significant.

Israel means to strive, contend, struggle, or wrestle with God. 

Can you believe it?

Not “the chosen ones” or “the beloved”. But those who wrestle with God. With names carrying such weight in the Bible, this is no small detail. Wrestling with God would come to define this people throughout the biblical narrative. Their identity became inseparable from learning to trust, resist, repent, and return. 

And thank God for that! Because many of us find ourselves in the same place. If your journey of faith is marked by wrestling through hard questions or painful circumstances, you are in good company. Israel literally means “one who wrestles” so perhaps we should expect to do the same.

Wrestling with God is healthy, and working out your salvation is normal because faith is the place where struggles belong. If we give up the fight, if we tap out and disengage, if we stop bringing our questions and pain before God, then we travel through this life self-medicating, self-soothing, and ultimately numbing out. But a vibrant faith faces the challenges of life and drags them before God ready to be honest: “God, make sense of this!”“God, what am I supposed to do here?”

“God, where are you? Why don’t you fix this?” 

It’s honest, it’s provocative, it’s real. It’s a struggle. It’s a wrestling match. And all of it is done best with God himself. 

A Common Misconception

There’s a misconception about faith that says you wrestle only until you finally arrive at certainty—never to doubt or question again. And if you do wrestle, it must mean you’re doing it wrong.

But none of this is true in Scripture. The Bible is filled with people of faith who wrestle—with God, with themselves, their choices, and with their convictions. Scripture doesn’t hide that reality. Wrestling isn’t a flaw in the faith journey; it is a vital part of it.

Unchanged

There was a ministry leader who led a public organization for decades. Near the end of his life, a longtime secretary proudly claimed that he had never changed any of his views or convictions. When I heard that, I cringed. For someone’s beliefs to remain entirely unchanged for decades suggests not faithfulness, but stagnation. Growth requires humility, learning, and the willingness to wrestle.

This does not mean we shouldn’t be rooted in truth. God is unchanging, and we anchor ourselves in him. But as we experience life with openness to God, he will inevitably bring us face to face with questions and tensions that require wrestling. That is not a threat to faith—it is evidence of it.

So if you do find yourself questioning and doubting, if you’re unsure about what you believe or how to reconcile your beliefs with your experiences, if you’re discouraged by all the doubts that plague you, if you wrestle through more matters of faith than you can track, please know that you are not alone. We all do.

Read that again.

WE ALL DO.

And if you encounter a follower of Jesus who won’t admit they wrestle, then you can be sure that such a person hasn’t much to teach you.

Even our Savior

We’ve established that Jacob, a patriarch in the faith later named Israel, wrestled with God. And the nation of Israel lived up to her name wrestling with God throughout her history. Wrestling became the foundational identity of an entire people. But more comforting than that, even our savior Jesus wrestled.

From the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus spoke openly about the suffering that awaited him. And yet the Gospels show us that he struggled with it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. In that prayer, Jesus admitted his anguish. He asked if there was another way. He wrestled honestly before surrendering to the Father’s will.

But I don’t want us to miss how significant this is. Friend, if Jesus himself could wrestle through his purpose and calling with God, you and I can, too. It is a normal and healthy part of the faith journey.

Jesus’ half brother, Jude, wrote to Christians from what I think was his own struggle to believe since he didn’t believe at all while Jesus walked the earth. He tells believers:

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 1:3)

Jude wanted to write about their common faith and salvation and yet he found it necessary to encourage his readers to contend for the faith. Other Bible translations use similar words for contend and they all speak to the idea of wrestling through one’s faith.

• fight strenuously

• earnestly contend

• fight

• defend

• fight hard

• be strong and brave

• vigorously defend

• persevere

• carry on the struggle

• labour continually

• struggle hard

• hold very strongly

• strive strongly

• agonize for the faith

I’ll be honest—none of that sounds pleasant. It sounds like work, it sounds like struggling. It sounds more difficult than the beautiful life of blessing one might expect when finally surrendering to God. 

Thankfully, the sooner we come to accept that faith is a struggle, that wrestling through tough questions and rough experiences is actually a beautiful part of being human, then hopefully wrestling through the hard stuff will help us see that we are truly living when we do. 

In one of his letters, the Apostle Paul tells his readers, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Again, that sounds terrible. I don’t want to work anything out with fear or with trembling! But Paul says in the next verse “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

And there you have it. With all we might wrestle through in this life of faith, it is God who is working it all out in you. Maybe the greatest act of struggle and wrestle and fight is simply to surrender to the One who is working in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose in your life. 

So struggle. Struggle hard. Strive, agonize, defend, persevere—but may all of it be in the presence of the only One who is worthy of your ultimate surrender. 

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. This song by Jess Ray titled Runaway is written from God’s perspective about a person who is trying to run away from God and God is relentless is calling them back to his love. So if you find yourself in a season of wrestling, I think you’ll find it especially meaningful. Let me know if you check it out!

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

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