November 18, 2025 Devo

The name “Israel” literally means, “He struggles with God.” What a fitting description for God’s people. It’s one I can certainly relate to. Can you? I struggle sometimes to understand what God is up to. I struggle sometimes trying to be comfortable on paths I believe God is leading me. I struggle sometimes with God not answering my prayers the way I want them to be answered. I struggle with God allowing certain things to happen that I think should never happen. I struggle sometimes to forgive like God wants me to forgive, to love like God wants me to love, and to do some things I know God wants me to do. I struggle with believing God can use me. I struggle sometimes with putting my problems or my needs or my fears in God’s hands and letting Him take care of them. Truthfully, I struggle sometimes to believe that God can actually love me like He does. Do you ever struggle with God?
The psalmist addresses us “God-strugglers” in three straight verses in the psalm. His response to our struggling in all three verses is the same: “Trust the Lord.” Wrestle with God if you must, but trust Him. Voice your frustration to Him if it helps you get it out, but trust Him. Complain about how unfair it is and how you wouldn’t run the universe this way if you were in charge, but trust Him. Go ahead and believe that you have a better plan than God, that you have a better handle on what the people around you need than God, and debate with the Almighty until the sun comes up if you like. But when the sun does come up, trust Him.
Trust Him because God really does know more than you. Trust Him because God really does have plans and purposes. Trust Him because, in spite of how you feel, God loves you more than you could possibly imagine and is working on your behalf. Even when it doesn’t seem that way. Trust Him because, in the final analysis, you have no control over most of what you’re struggling with Him about anyway. So trust is all you’re left with. God is your Helper. God is your Shield. Believe it or not, God is your Friend. When you fight with God, you are actually fighting against yourself. So let go. Give in. Let the One who is in charge BE in charge. Stop your struggling and let God win. Because when He wins, YOU win. Just trust Him. That’s God’s Word for you today.