What to Do When It Feels Like God Is against You

When you’re facing times of trouble and it feels like God is against you, there are two important things to do:

1. Share Your Feelings with God

The first thing is to simply be honest with God about the way you’re feeling. We see this in Scripture, particularly in the life of David and some of the other psalmists. When they were in trouble and were frustrated with God, they simply talked about it in their Psalms. That really shows us that God can handle anything we throw against him, that he really wants to hear what is on our hearts. And it’s in that dialogue that he will bring us around to his perspective and help us understand his grace for us. Being honest with God is an important thing to do in times of trouble.

2. Meditate on God's Promises

The second thing is to really meditate on the promises of God. The Scripture says, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Think also of the promise in Romans 8, where God says, "If God is for us who can be against us?"

Even if we feel as if God is against us, that is absolutely not the case. We need to be reminded of God’s promises for us in Scripture and how he is for us in the person and in the saving work of his own Son.

Philip Graham Ryken (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the eighth president of Wheaton College. He preached at Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church from 1995 until his appointment at Wheaton in 2010. Ryken has published more than fifty books, including When Trouble Comes and expository commentaries on Exodus, Ecclesiastes, and Jeremiah. He serves as a board member for the Gospel Coalition and the Lausanne Movement.