Job lost his children, his wealth, and his health in what felt like a single unbroken wave of disaster, and his own wife told him to curse God and die. Instead he tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground in worship, and said the LORD gives and the LORD takes away, blessed be the name of the LORD. He didn’t pretend the loss wasn’t devastating. He just refused to let it be the last word.
These thirty verses are for the personal, specific kind of tough time, the diagnosis, the loss, the year that just won’t let up, rather than a wider crisis in the world around you. If exhaustion is the main thing you’re carrying right now, our post on prayer for weariness speaks more directly to that.
Don’t rush through all thirty in one sitting. Let one verse sit with you as long as it needs to before you move to the next.
Prayer for Tough Times
1. Job 1:21 (NIV)
“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
Prayer: Let me hold both truths honestly, the giving and the taking, without pretending one away.
Give me Job’s kind of worship, offered in genuine grief, not despite it.
Remind me praise here wasn’t easy, and mine doesn’t have to be either.
2. Job 13:15 (NIV)
“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
Prayer: Let my hope survive even the worst version of this tough time.
Give me trust that doesn’t require a guaranteed happy outcome first.
Remind me hoping in you and fearing the outcome can coexist.
3. Psalm 34:19 (NIV)
“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”
Prayer: Let me believe deliverance is coming even while troubles are still stacked up.
Remind me being righteous didn’t exempt this psalmist from hardship, and it won’t exempt me either.
Give me patience for “delivers,” which isn’t the same word as “prevents.”
4. Psalm 73:26 (NIV)
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Prayer: Let my failing flesh not convince me that you’re failing too.
Give me a portion that outlasts whatever this season is taking from me.
Remind me strength of heart is different from strength of body.
5. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Prayer: Let me stop demanding strength and start trusting grace instead.
Show me where your power shows up precisely because I can’t manage this alone.
Remind me weakness admitted honestly isn’t failure here.
6. James 1:2-3 (NIV)
“Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
Prayer: Let me consider this trial without pretending it’s actually joyful in the moment.
Give perseverance room to grow instead of rushing past this before it’s finished its work.
Remind me testing isn’t punishment, even when it feels like it.
7. Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)
“we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Prayer: Let this chain actually form in me, not stall out at suffering alone.
Give me character shaped by this, not just scars from it.
Remind me hope is the destination, not an immediate bypass.
8. Psalm 30:5 (NIV)
“weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
Prayer: Let me weep honestly tonight without rushing myself toward false cheer.
Give me confidence that morning, whenever it comes, will bring something different.
Remind me the night doesn’t get the final say here.
9. Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”
Prayer: Be with me specifically in this passing through, not just observing from outside it.
Remind me passing through implies movement, not permanent residence in this.
Give me the assurance that this won’t sweep me under completely.
10. Psalm 42:11 (NIV)
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him.”
Prayer: Let me ask my own soul this question honestly instead of ignoring it.
Give me the willingness to redirect my hope even mid-collapse.
Remind me “yet praise him” is a future tense, not a demand for right now.
11. Psalm 6:6 (NIV)
“I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping.”
Prayer: Let this honesty be permitted in my prayers too, not edited out.
Give me rest even in a season where nights feel this long.
Remind me the psalmist brought this exact exhaustion to you and kept praying anyway.
12. Lamentations 3:19-20 (NIV)
“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.”
Prayer: Let me remember honestly instead of forcing premature resolution.
Give my downcast soul room to be downcast without shame.
Remind me the next verses in this same chapter turn toward hope, so mine might too.
13. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)
“Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.”
Prayer: Let me believe I’m not consumed, even though this season has taken a lot.
Give me new compassion tomorrow, not just a memory of yesterday’s.
Remind me great love and great suffering appear in the very same chapter.
14. Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Prayer: Be close to me specifically if my spirit feels crushed right now.
Save me from whatever this crushing threatens to take permanently.
Remind me closeness, not distance, is your response to this kind of pain.
15. Psalm 143:4 (NIV)
“My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.”
Prayer: Let this fainting be honest, not something I have to hide from you.
Give me a way through dismay that doesn’t require pretending it away.
Remind me this psalm keeps praying even in the middle of admitting this.
16. Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
“though the fig tree does not bud… yet I will rejoice in the LORD… The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer.”
Prayer: Let me choose this rejoicing before circumstances give me a reason to.
Give me feet steady enough for uneven, difficult ground.
Remind me strength here is sovereign-given, not self-generated.
17. Psalm néopas…
“Actually let's continue properly:”
17. Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart.”
Prayer: Let me stay confident of seeing goodness, even if it hasn’t arrived yet.
Give me strength to wait instead of forcing an outcome before its time.
Remind me waiting and hoping aren’t passive here, they’re active choices.
18. Psalm 40:1-2 (NIV)
“I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit… he set my feet on a rock.”
Prayer: Let my patience in this tough time be met the way the psalmist’s was.
Lift me out of whatever pit this season has become.
Set my feet on something solid, even if the ground around me stays uncertain.
19. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.”
Prayer: Let this presence be enough reason not to fear today’s specific hardship.
Strengthen me for the exact task this tough time requires of me.
Remind me help is promised, not just sympathy from a distance.
20. Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Prayer: Let me lift my eyes off this hardship long enough to remember where help comes from.
Remind me the Maker of heaven and earth isn’t overwhelmed by my situation.
Give me a source of help bigger than my own strength, which is currently running low.
21. 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
“you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith… may result in praise, glory and honor.”
Prayer: Let this grief have purpose, even if I can’t see it clearly yet.
Give my faith room to be genuinely tested, not just performed.
Remind me trials and honor aren’t opposites in this promise.
22. Psalm 55:22 (NIV)
“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
Prayer: Let me actually cast this weight instead of carrying it out of habit.
Sustain me through whatever specifically is shaking right now.
Remind me sustaining doesn’t always mean removing the difficulty.
23. Nahum 1:7 (NIV)
“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”
Prayer: Let me trust you specifically in this trouble, not just wish for easier ones.
Remind me your goodness and my current hardship aren’t contradictions.
Give me refuge that feels real, not theoretical.
24. Psalm 22:24 (NIV)
“For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”
Prayer: Let me believe you haven’t hidden your face, even when it feels that way.
Remind me my suffering isn’t scorned or dismissed by you.
Give me the confidence that my cry for help has actually been heard.
25. Psalm 71:20 (NIV)
“Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again.”
Prayer: Let me trust the restoration even while still in the many and bitter part.
Give me patience for “again,” which implies this isn’t a permanent state.
Remind me you’re named as the one who made me see this, and the one who restores.
26. Romans 8:18 (NIV)
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Prayer: Let me hold this perspective without minimizing how hard the present actually is.
Give me a glimpse of the glory this suffering can’t outweigh.
Remind me “present” means temporary, however long it feels right now.
27. Psalm 138:7 (NIV)
“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life… you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes.”
Prayer: Preserve my life specifically through the middle of this, not just after it ends.
Stretch out your hand against whatever feels like an enemy in this season.
Remind me “in the midst” means you’re here now, not waiting for it to be over.
28. Psalm 46:1-2 (NIV)
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear.”
Prayer: Let this ever-present help actually feel present today, not distant.
Give me strength specific to this trouble, not a vague general kind.
Remind me the fear I’m tempted toward isn’t the only available response.
29. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Prayer: Let this strength cover the exact thing I’m facing today, however small or large.
Remind me “all this” includes the hard, unglamorous parts too.
Give me endurance drawn from you, not manufactured from willpower alone.
30. Revelation 21:4 (NIV)
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”
Prayer: Let this future hope steady me through today’s very real pain.
Remind me tears now are not tears forever.
Give me patience to keep going toward what’s promised, even slowly.
Conclusion
Job’s tough time didn’t get resolved quickly, and scripture doesn’t pretend it did. But he kept talking to God through it, kept arguing and grieving and questioning, and eventually God answered him directly, out of the storm.
If this season has you exhausted more than anything else, try pairing today’s prayer with a specific, honest sentence about what’s actually hard, rather than a vague “help me get through this.” Our post on prayer for perseverance is built for the long middle of a hard season, not just the beginning of it.
When a bad day turns into a genuinely bad season, prayer for when life is hard and prayer for a bad day both offer more ground to stand on.