Wrestling with the Lord

I'm still pondering on Enos' descriptions of his prayers. Especially with the idea of struggling in the Spirit. He says, (v. 11) I prayed unto him with many long strugglings . . .

Alma had a similar experience as he went into Ammonihah. Alma ^alabored much in the spirit, ^bwrestling with God in ^cmighty prayer . . .

So, here's my question: What exactly were they doing? We can assume that the wrestling is figurative. Although in Genesis we see Jacob wrestling with a man, most LDS Bible experts agree that the wrestling was not actual physical contact. So Alma and Enos are spiritually struggling or wrestling with the Lord. Does that mean they're trying to convince the Lord of what they want? To change His mind? To persuade Him to do something despite His better judgment? That sounds like something I might do, but surely not a prophet of God.

What then? Alma was asking for something good, something righteous and praiseworthy. But it was something which the Lord was not able to grant without taking away the people's agency. Alma asked that the Lord would pour out His spirit, that Alma could baptize them unto repentance. But the people hardened their hearts. They chose sin and destruction.

In Enos' case, Enos asked something that was the Lord's will. Why, then was it a struggle? I'm wondering if the struggle was for Enos to align his desires, his wishes with the will of the Lord. Perhaps Enos started out, in his new-found conversion, praying that he could go right then and convert all the Lamanites. The Lord said, "No, that's not going to happen." Perhaps Enos thought, "If not now, then sometime in the future?" Enos had learned that there was a very real possibility that his people, the Nephites, were going to all be destroyed many hundred of years hence. And he worried about what would happen to the sacred records that had been written, and would yet be written by the prophets of the Nephites. Would those be destroyed also? Might they be preserved so that they could be brought forth to convert his brethren, the Lamanites, at some future time?

I think the struggling was what happened to Enos as he worked through his desires and feelings and brought them into alignment with what the Lord wanted. And perhaps Alma's righteous desires caused him to struggle and wrestle as he came to accept that the people did have their agency and the Lord would not force them to repent and become a righteous people. As much as Alma wanted to save them, he could not do it. He was still allowed to preach to them, and he did convert a few. The Lord blessed him for his righteous desires.

As I pray, I always think the things I am asking for are good things. I try not to ask for selfish things, at least not too much. But I usually just put my request on the Lord's table and leave it there. And do the same the next night. And the next. Eventually, I'm nagging the Lord, rather than struggling to find out what He wants for me. I need to wrestle more.