10 Women in the Bible Who Struggled to Trust God’s Plan

By: Kristine Brown

My situation looked bleak from every direction. I wanted to trust God’s plan. I really did. So why was I struggling to believe God could help me in the midst of what seemed impossible? Sometimes, God gives us opportunities to come to a deeper level of trust in Him. During those dark times, we have a choice. Will we doubt, or will we trust God to guide us?

If you’ve ever doubted, take heart. You are not alone. Many women in the Bible also questioned God’s plan. Through their stories, we can learn how God works through our trials to draw us closer. When we rely on His sovereignty instead of our strength, we will discover faith like never before. Here are 10 women in the Bible who struggled to trust God’s plan.

1. Eve

“The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it,” (Genesis 3:6 NLT).

The planner in me dislikes not knowing. I want everything written down in orderly fashion in my ultra-efficient organizer. I want to be able to cross out one item at a time on my to-do list while smiling with satisfaction. Planning makes me feel in control, and I like being in control.

So when I come face to face with unexpected circumstances, I feel self-sufficiency slip away. That’s when fear finds its place in my heart. Eve gave in to the temptation to know more. Just like Eve, I want wisdom to be able to figure things out on my own and answer all those what-if questions. What if it doesn’t work out? What if something bad happens? But focusing on the unknown gives fear an edge. God wants us to release our need to know and trust Him with the plan.

2. Sarah

“Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son,’” (Genesis 18:13-14).

When something happens that can’t be explained, I try to reason it out. Find a way to make sense of it. God may be working a miracle in my life, but my mind can be my worst enemy.

No doubt Sarah was a bright woman. She knew the impossibility of her giving birth. Why should she believe three strangers? Like Sarah, we struggle to trust God’s plan because He can do things beyond our human understanding. God’s Word says to “lean not on your own understanding,” (Proverbs 3:5). As we grasp the Truth of that verse, we can learn to let go of doubt and trust God’s miracle-working power.

3. Hagar

“When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. ‘I don’t want to watch the boy die,’ she said, as she burst into tears,” (Genesis 21:15-16).

Have you ever been stuck in a situation where you couldn’t see a way out? Where every possible answer seemed to make matters worse? We focus on what we can’t see happening, and hopelessness takes over. When our current circumstances look bleak, it’s easy to forget God’s past promises.

Years before, Hagar had taken a trip into the desert. While there, God made a promise to her. “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count,” (Gen. 16:10). Now, she struggled to hold onto hope. It may have been years since her first visit from an angel, but God’s promise to Hagar hadn’t expired. His Word says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ,” (2 Cor. 1:20). When we’re at our weakest, His assurance remains strong.

4. Job's Wife

“His wife said to him, ‘Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die,’” (Job 2:9).

She watched her husband in agony, his entire body covered with painful boils. His discomfort was so great, he scraped himself with broken pottery. Nothing aches like watching those closest to us suffer. And no one knew better how that felt than Job’s wife.

Although it may seem like Job’s wife responded to his condition with callousness, many of us can understand her heartbreak. Watching someone we love with a debilitating illness can make us feel helpless, fearful, and sometimes even angry at God. Her comment reveals deep hurt. It exposes those feelings we harbor in our hearts when hope fades. Questions like, “Why would God allow something so terrible to happen?” take over our thoughts. But even through our darkest times, God’s will prevails. God said Job had “maintained his integrity.” (Job 2:3) That kind of faith can encourage those we love to trade helplessness for hope.

5. Lot's Wife

“But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt,” (Genesis 19:26).

Early in our marriage, my husband and I moved several times. Each time we relocated, a pattern emerged. I would overthink, second-guess, and question our decision. I compared the newness of the now to the familiarity of the past, which would once again trigger fear of the future.

In times of change, I struggle to trust God’s direction. Perhaps Lot’s wife had the same questions as her family embarked on the unknown. Scripture does not reveal why Lot’s wife looked back, only that she disobeyed God’s command. Many times, we don’t know the why, but we keep our eyes forward as we take the next step in faith. If we dwell on the past, we risk missing out on God’s blessings ahead.

Deborah

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

Deborah

Her name means: "Honey Bee"

Her character: Her vision of the world was shaped not by the political situation of her day but by her relationship with God. Though women in the ancient world did not usually become political leaders, Deborah was just the leader Israel needed—a prophetess who heard God and believed him and whose courage aroused the people, enabling them to throw off foreign oppression.
Her sorrow: That her people had sunk into despair because of their idolatry, forgetting God's promises and the faith of their ancestors.
Her joy: That God turned the enemy's strength on its head, bestowing power to the weak and blessing the land with peace for forty years.
Key Scriptures: Judges 4-5

Bathsheba

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

BATHSHEBA

Her name means: "The Seventh Daughter" or "The Daughter of an Oath"

Her character: Her beauty made her victim to a king's desire. Though it is difficult to discern her true character, she seems to have found the courage to endure tragedy, winning the king's confidence and eventually securing the kingdom for her son Solomon.
Her sorrow: To have been molested by a supposedly godly man, who then murdered her husband. To have suffered the loss of one of her sons.
Her joy: To have given birth to five sons, one of whom became king of Israel after David's death.
Key Scriptures: 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25

Her Story

Bathsheba squeezed the sponge, moving it rhythmically across her body as though to calm the restless cadence of her thoughts. Normally, she looked forward to the ritual bath marking the end of her monthly period, but tonight the water soothed her skin without refreshing her spirit.

She should be glad for the cool breeze. For flowers. For a lush harvest. But spring could also yield its crop of sorrows, as she well knew. Spring was the season for armies and battles. Once the rains had ceased and the harvest had been gathered, men marched off to war, leaving their women behind.

Bathsheba shivered as she stood up. Though her husband, Uriah, was a seasoned soldier, she still worried about him, wishing she could fall asleep in his arms. But he was camped with the rest of the king's army beneath the open skies of Rabbah, an Ammonite fortress some forty miles northeast of Jerusalem.

The king rose from his bed, unable to sleep. Pacing across the palace roof, he gazed at the city below. Jerusalem seemed calm, a city at peace with itself though at war with its neighbors. Soon his soldiers would gather a great harvest of Ammonite captives, laborers for his expanding kingdom. The casual observer might have thought David a man at peace with his growing power. Instead, the king could not quiet an increasing sense of discontent.

Then, in the half-light, David noticed the figure of a young woman bathing in the walled garden of a house below him. He leaned against the outer edge of the roof for a closer view. Wet hair curling languidly against skin soft as lamb's wool. Breasts like rounded apples. He reached as though to steal a touch. Unaware of watching eyes, the woman toweled herself dry and stepped into the house. He waited and watched, but even the king could not see through walls.

Over the next few days, David made inquiries and discovered that the vision had a name: She was Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah the Hittite. He sent for her. She came to him and became pregnant with his child.

Fearing discovery, the king ordered Uriah home from battle. But the soldier surprised him by refusing to spend the night with his wife: "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

So David convinced Uriah to spend another day in Jerusalem, managing to get him drunk. Surely the wine would overcome his scruples. But it didn't. So David played his last card, entrusting Bathsheba's husband with a letter to Joab, commander of the army. It read: "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."

So Uriah died by treachery, and David claimed Bathsheba as his wife, her child as his own.

One day, the prophet Nathan approached David, saying: "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

"Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."

David was incensed: "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house.' "

David's lust for Bathsheba marked the beginning of his long decline. Though God forgave him, he still suffered the consequences of his wrongdoing. His sin was a whirlpool that dragged others into its swirling path. And despite David's prayer and pleading, God allowed the son David had conceived with Bathsheba to die from an illness.

But why did Bathsheba have to suffer along with the man who molested her and murdered her husband? Though the story gives us little insight into her true character, it is hardly likely that Bathsheba was in a position to refuse the king. In Nathan's parable, in fact, she is depicted as an innocent lamb. Why, then, have so many people painted her as a seductress? Perhaps Bathsheba's innocence is too painful to face. That a good person can suffer such tragedies, especially at the hands of a godly person, appalls us. Worse yet, God punishes both David and Bathsheba by taking their son. If we can believe that Bathsheba had an affair with David, we could accept her suffering more easily; her guilt would make David's sin seem less grave and God's punishment less cruel.

Though Bathsheba may not have understood the reasons for her suffering, God gave her favor with King David, making her both a powerful queen and the mother of David's successor, Solomon, who became famous for his great wisdom.

Her Promise

The story of David and Bathsheba outlines in graphic detail the horror of sin and where it leads. David's first step toward sin leads to adultery, lying, deceit, murder, and, finally, the death of a son. The link between sin and restoration comes when David admits his sin and Nathan says the Lord has taken it away (2 Samuel 12:13). How much guilt is Bathsheba's isn't clear; however, when God tells them through the prophet Nathan that he loves their son Solomon and wants him to be called Jedidiah, the restoration is Bathsheba's as well as David's. If God could forgive this terrible sin of David, don't you think he could forgive your sin, whatever it may be?

This devotional is drawn from Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. Used with permission.

Delilah

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

DELILAH

Her name means: "Dainty One"

Her character: A prostitute whose nationality is unknown, she used her beauty to betray her lover and enrich herself.
Her sorrow: That Samson lied to her, making her look foolish on three different occasions.
Her joy: That she overpowered one of history's most powerful men, handing him over to his enemy, the Philistines.
Key Scriptures: Judges 16:4-22

Her Story

Her teeth gleamed white in the dusky light as a smile parted lips soft and smooth as a scarlet ribbon. Earrings glinted gold as she threw back her head and laughed out loud. Fortune had come knocking on her door that day. No lover had ever paid Delilah as well as Samson would.

Rahab

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE

RAHAB

Her name means: "Storm," "Arrogance," "Broad," or "Spacious"
Her character: Rahab was both clever and wise. She saw judgment coming and was able to devise an escape plan for herself and her family. As soon as she heard what God had done for the Israelites, she cast her lot with his people, risking her life in an act of faith.
Her sorrow: To see her own people destroyed and her city demolished.
Her joy: That God had given her, an idolater and prostitute, the opportunity to know him and belong to his people.
Key Scriptures: Joshua 2:1-21; 6:17-25; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25