The phrase above comes from Romans 2:11: “For there is no respect of persons with God.” (KJV) Or as other translations state: God shows no partiality. The subject in question with that verse is about a person’s good works, and how God doesn’t care about their heritage: “but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.” (v10; ESV)

Everyone has their bad days. We all face circumstances that test our resolve, our faith, our joy. Sometimes they’re bad enough we’re tempted to give in to despair. Most of the time, though, we endure. Sometimes we might even thrive in the end with lessons learned and wisdom gained.

Yet, at least in western cultures, we are sometimes made to feel guilty or ashamed when we cry out to God over the challenges we face.

Myself included. After all how can any problem in my life compare to someone facing starvation, persecution, oppression, debilitating disease, abuse, slavery, etc.? How can I expect God to not scoff at me, or at least roll his eyes at my ultimately meaningless tears of frustration?

Isaiah 40:28-31 says: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (ESV)

Not only does God not care about my or anyone else’s lineage, he doesn’t only hear and answer the prayers of those with life-or-death problems. His understanding is unsearchable (or immeasureable according to other translations), so he can—and promised to—give strength to those who need it.

The Isaiah scripture above is another instance where what’s not said is as important as what is said. Nowhere in the scripture above does it state that the problems have to be big in order for God to strengthen us.

That said, he might convict us when we cry to him about the little things or make certain wrong assumptions about him and our circumstances, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand or have compassion for our struggles. In fact, those convictions can give us the strength to move past our smaller problems a whole lot quicker.

We should never be ashamed or hesitate to cry out to God. He already knows, and we can’t lie to him anyway. He never wants to see us despair, grow weary, or give in, no matter who we are or how big—or how small—our problems might be.