35 Bible Verses About Dealing with Midlife Crisis

Midlife crisis isn’t just a cultural cliché; it’s a very real season of questioning, restlessness, and soul-searching that can hit even the most stable believers. If you’re somewhere between 35 and 55 and finding yourself wondering if this is all there is to life, questioning the choices you’ve made, or feeling an urgent need to make dramatic changes before it’s too late, you’re experiencing the existential weight that comes with recognizing your mortality and reassessing your priorities.

This season often brings uncomfortable questions: Have I wasted my best years? Did I miss my true calling? Is my marriage still fulfilling or just familiar? Have I achieved anything that truly matters? The awareness that you have fewer years ahead than behind can create panic about unfulfilled dreams, regret about roads not taken, and a desperate desire to recapture youth or pursue long-suppressed desires. Some people respond by making impulsive decisions that damage relationships and sabotage stability, while others become paralyzed by the fear that change is impossible or too risky.

These verses offer wisdom for navigating this challenging season with faith, helping you find meaning and direction without destroying what God has already built in your life.

Table of Contents

Bible Verses About Dealing with Midlife Crisis

1. Psalm 90:12 – Teach Us to Number Our Days

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
New International Version (NIV)

2. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 – A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
English Standard Version (ESV)

3. Jeremiah 29:11 – Plans to Give You Hope and a Future

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
New King James Version (NKJV)

4. Isaiah 46:4 – Even to Your Old Age and Gray Hairs

I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.
New Living Translation (NLT)

5. Romans 8:28 – All Things Work Together for Good

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

6. Psalm 37:4 – Take Delight in the Lord

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

7. Proverbs 16:9 – A Man’s Heart Plans His Way

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
King James Version (KJV)

8. 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Though Our Outer Self Is Wasting Away

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

9. Ecclesiastes 11:9-10 – Follow the Ways of Your Heart

You who are young, make the most of your youth. Relish your youthful vigor. Take roads you want to take. Don’t, however, be brash. Don’t try to get out of taking responsibility. God is watching your every move.
The Message (MSG)

10. Philippians 3:13-14 – Forgetting What Is Behind

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Amplified Bible (AMP)

11. Isaiah 43:18-19 – Forget the Former Things

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it sprouts up; don’t you see it? I will indeed make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
New English Translation (NET)

12. Psalm 92:14 – They Will Still Bear Fruit in Old Age

They will still bear fruit in old age; they will be healthy and green.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

13. Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Remember Your Creator in the Days of Your Youth

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old.
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

14. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 – Godliness with Contentment Is Great Gain

Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us.
Good News Translation (GNT)

15. Psalm 71:18 – Even When I Am Old and Gray

Even when I am old and gray, do not leave me alone, God. I will tell the children about your power; I will tell those who live after me about your might.
New Century Version (NCV)

16. Job 12:12 – Wisdom Is Found in the Elderly

Wisdom is found in the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
International Standard Version (ISV)

17. Psalm 39:4-5 – Show Me My Life’s End

Show me, Adonai, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. You have made my days like handbreadths, and my lifespan is like nothing before You. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath.
Tree of Life Version (TLV)

18. Ecclesiastes 7:10 – Do Not Say, Why Were the Former Days Better?

Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Lexham English Bible (LEB)

19. Psalm 138:8 – The Lord Will Vindicate Me

Yahweh will fulfill his purpose for me. Yahweh, your loving kindness endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
World English Bible (WEB)

20. Proverbs 27:1 – Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

Boast not thyself of to-morrow; For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
American Standard Version (ASV)

21. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 – The Time Is Short

I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing.
Revised Standard Version (RSV)

22. James 4:13-15 – You Do Not Know What Tomorrow Will Bring

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
New American Bible (NAB)

23. Psalm 103:15-16 – As for Man, His Days Are Like Grass

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone: and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB)

24. 1 Peter 1:24-25 – All People Are Like Grass

For, All flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.
English Revised Version (ERV)

25. Ecclesiastes 9:10 – Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do

All that thy hand findeth to do, with thy power do, for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol whither thou art going.
Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)

26. Psalm 31:15 – My Times Are in Your Hand

My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
Darby Translation (DARBY)

27. Matthew 6:26 – Look at the Birds of the Air

Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?
Weymouth New Testament (WNT)

28. Ecclesiastes 2:24 – There Is Nothing Better for Mortals

Noon is betere to man, no but that he ete and drynke, and schewe to his soule goodis of hise werkis; and this thing is of the hond of God.
Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

29. 1 Chronicles 29:15 – Our Days on Earth Are Like a Shadow

For we are straungers before thee, and soiourners, as were all our fathers: our dayes on the earth are like a shadowe, and there is none abiding.
Geneva Bible (GNV)

30. Psalm 144:4 – Man Is Like a Breath

Man is lyke vnto vanitie: his dayes are as a shadowe that goeth awaye.
Bishop’s Bible

31. Luke 12:15 – Life Does Not Consist in Possessions

And he sayde vnto them: take hede and beware of coveteousnes. For no mannes lyfe stondeth in the aboundaunce of the thynges which he possesseth.
Tyndale Bible

32. Psalm 90:10 – The Length of Our Days Is Seventy Years

We live for seventy years or so, with luck we might make it to eighty. But even the best of those years are mostly trouble and sorrow; over so quickly, and then we’re gone.
The Living Bible (TLB)

33. 2 Corinthians 5:1 – Our Earthly Tent Is Destroyed

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
The Passion Translation (TPT)

34. Psalm 16:11 – You Make Known to Me the Path of Life

You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
The Voice Bible (VOICE)

35. Revelation 21:5 – I Am Making Everything New

He who was sitting on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down. These words are true. They can be trusted.”
New International Reader’s Version (NIrV)

Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About Midlife Crisis

Scripture acknowledges the reality of life’s brevity and the natural human tendency to question purpose and meaning as we age, but it offers a perspective that transcends the panic often associated with midlife crisis. The Bible presents aging not as decline but as an opportunity for deeper wisdom, continued purpose, and spiritual maturity. Rather than encouraging desperate attempts to recapture youth, Scripture calls us to embrace each season of life with its unique gifts and responsibilities.

What strikes me most about the biblical approach to midlife questioning is how it validates our concerns about time and purpose while redirecting our focus toward eternal rather than temporal values. The Bible doesn’t minimize the reality that our earthly time is limited, but it uses this awareness to motivate wise living rather than reckless behavior. Scripture suggests that midlife can be a time of renewed dedication to what truly matters rather than a crisis requiring dramatic life changes.

The Bible also provides a framework for contentment that doesn’t depend on achieving every dream or experiencing every possible pleasure. Scripture teaches that true fulfillment comes from walking in God’s purposes for our lives, which may look different in each season but remain meaningful throughout our entire lifespan. This perspective can transform midlife from a crisis into an opportunity for deeper surrender to God’s will and greater investment in eternal priorities.

Say This Prayer

Heavenly Father, I find myself in a season of questioning and restlessness, wondering if I’ve wasted precious years or missed opportunities that can never be recovered. The awareness of my mortality weighs heavily on me, and I struggle with feelings of regret, fear, and uncertainty about the future.

Help me to see this season not as a crisis but as an opportunity to realign my priorities with Your will. Give me wisdom to distinguish between genuine leading from You and the panic-driven impulses that come from fear of aging or regret over past choices. Show me how to make peace with the paths I’ve taken while remaining open to the new directions You may have for me.