# 20 Bible Verses About Confusion

Source: https://christianpure.com/learn/bible-verses-confusion/
Publisher: Christian Pure (https://christianpure.com/)
Published: 2025-08-04
Updated: 2026-09-25

In the Bible, confusion is either disorder or the perplexity of a believer who cannot make sense of events. God sends the first on Babel, and Paul keeps it out of worship. Asaph, Job and Paul admit to the second (Psalm 73:16-17; Job 42:3; 2 Corinthians 4:8), and James 1:5 tells anyone who lacks wisdom to ask God for it.

The Greek word for confusion in 1 Corinthians 14:33 is *akatastasia*, disorder or instability. James uses the same noun for what follows jealousy and selfish ambition, "there will be disorder and every vile practice" (James 3:16), and the related adjective *akatastatos* for the doubter who is "unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8).

## Confusion as disorder and judgment

### Genesis 11:9

> "Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth."

**Reflection:** The people on the plain of Shinar built a city and a tower "lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (verse 4). The Lord came down and confused their language "so that they may not understand one another's speech" (verse 7), and they stopped building and were dispersed, the outcome the tower was meant to prevent. The verse explains the name Babel by what happened there; the Hebrew verb for confused is *balal*, to mix or confound.

### 1 Corinthians 14:33

> "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace."

**Reflection:** Paul is setting rules for worship at Corinth: two or three who speak in tongues, "each in turn", with someone to interpret, and a prophet who falls silent when another receives a revelation. This verse is the reason he gives, and the chapter ends, "all things should be done decently and in order" (verse 40). Confusion here is *akatastasia*, the disorder of a meeting where everyone speaks at once.

## When a believer cannot make sense of things

### Psalm 73:16-17

> "But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end."

**Reflection:** Asaph's problem is the wicked who prosper while he has kept his heart clean "in vain" (verse 13). Working it out was "a wearisome task" until he went into the sanctuary of God and saw where they end. Looking back, he calls his earlier state "brutish and ignorant" (verse 22), and the next verse begins, "Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand."

### Job 42:3

> "‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

**Reflection:** Job quotes back the question God put to him from the whirlwind, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (Job 38:2), and accepts it. He does not claim to understand now; he admits he spoke of "things too wonderful for me." What has changed is in verse 5: "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."

### 2 Corinthians 4:8

> "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;"

**Reflection:** Paul lists his hardships in pairs, each with a limit: afflicted but not crushed, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. In the pair about confusion Paul sets a simple Greek verb against its compound: he is *aporeo*, at a loss, but not *exaporeomai*, utterly at a loss. Verse 7, just before the list, says the treasure is kept in jars of clay "to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

### John 14:27

> "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

**Reflection:** The disciples are confused through much of John 14. Thomas says, "Lord, we do not know where you are going" (verse 5), and Philip asks to be shown the Father (verse 8). Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, who "will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (verse 26), then gives his peace and repeats the command that opened the chapter, "Let not your hearts be troubled."

## Asking God for wisdom and direction

### James 1:5

> "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

**Reflection:** The promise comes straight after James's words about trials that test faith (verses 2-4). God gives "generously to all without reproach", without scolding the one who asks. The only condition, in the next verse, is to ask in faith.

### James 1:6-8

> "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

**Reflection:** The one who asks while doubting is compared to a wave driven and tossed by the wind. Verse 8 calls him "double-minded" and "unstable in all his ways"; unstable is *akatastatos*, the adjective related to the word for confusion in 1 Corinthians 14:33. James says such a person "must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord."

### Daniel 2:22

> "He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him."

**Reflection:** Nebuchadnezzar demanded that his wise men tell him both his dream and its meaning, and they answered that no one could "except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh" (verse 11). Daniel and his companions asked God for mercy "concerning this mystery" (verse 18), and when it was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night he praised God in these words. The next verse thanks God for having "made known to me what we asked of you."

### Proverbs 3:5-6

> "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

**Reflection:** The chapter is a father's instruction to his son ("My son, do not forget my teaching", verse 1). Trusting the Lord is set against leaning on one's own understanding, and verse 7 repeats the warning: "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil." The promise is that he will make the paths straight.

### Psalm 25:4-5

> "Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long."

**Reflection:** In these verses of a psalm headed "Of David", David speaks to God, asking to be made to know his ways, to be taught and to be led, and he asks while waiting: "for you I wait all the day long." Later the psalm speaks of the Lord in the third person and gives the ground for the request: "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way" (verse 8).

### Psalm 32:8

> "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you."

**Reflection:** Verse 7 speaks to God ("You are a hiding place for me"), and verse 8 turns to address the listener with a promise of instruction and counsel, given with an eye on the one being taught. Verse 9 adds a warning: "Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle." The psalm, "A Maskil of David", opens with the blessing of the one whose sin is forgiven.

### Psalm 119:105

> "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

**Reflection:** The verse opens the section of Psalm 119 headed Nun. The verse before it links God's word to understanding: "Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way" (verse 104). The same section admits danger on the path, "The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts" (verse 110).

## Confusion that comes from deception

### Proverbs 14:12

> "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

**Reflection:** A way can seem right and still end in death. Proverbs 16:25 repeats the saying word for word.

### Colossians 2:8

> "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."

**Reflection:** Paul writes, he says in verse 4, "in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments." Against philosophy and empty deceit that follow human tradition he sets Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (verse 3).

### Ephesians 4:14

> "so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."

**Reflection:** Paul says the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (verse 11) were given so that the church would reach maturity and stop being carried about "by every wind of doctrine." Verse 15 sets against this "speaking the truth in love." The picture of waves and wind is the one James uses for the doubter in James 1:6.

### 1 John 4:1

> "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

**Reflection:** John gives the test in the next verse: "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." The passage ends by naming the two sides "the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error" (verse 6).

### Romans 12:2

> "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

**Reflection:** Paul's appeal rests on "the mercies of God" and begins with presenting the body as a living sacrifice (verse 1). A mind renewed rather than conformed to the world is how a believer tests and discerns God's will, which Paul calls good, acceptable and perfect.

## Peace when the mind is troubled

### Isaiah 26:3

> "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

**Reflection:** The verse belongs to a song that Isaiah says will be sung in the land of Judah "in that day" (verse 1), about a strong city with salvation for its walls. Perfect peace is kept for the one whose mind is stayed on God, "because he trusts in you", and verse 4 continues, "Trust in the Lord forever."

### Philippians 4:6-7

> "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

**Reflection:** Paul does not promise that the one who prays will understand the situation; he promises a peace that "surpasses all understanding" and will guard "your hearts and your minds." Just before it he writes, "The Lord is at hand" (verse 5), and just after it he tells the Philippians what to think about: "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just" (verse 8).

## Praying when confused

Psalm 25:4-5 is addressed to God and asks for direction, so it can be prayed as written. Daniel 2:20-22 blesses God in the third person, and verse 23 turns to thank him directly for an answer received. James 1:5 tells anyone who lacks wisdom to ask for it.

Job 42:3 and 2 Corinthians 4:8 describe confusion that is not cleared up. Job says he spoke of things too wonderful for him, and Paul says he is perplexed while denying that he is in despair.

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