Aww, poor little guy.
How long have you had him? If it's less than a couple of weeks I'd leave him to get settled in before messing with him too much, and if he's shedding he might be grumpier than normal, so I'd leave him alone then too. Otherwise, I'd just get him used to being handled, whether he likes it or not!
The easiest time to handle them is when they are full of food and sleepy, so last thing at night just when his lights are about to go off is a good time to start with him getting used to you. Pick him up from the side (rather than scaring him with your hand looming over him), supporting his belly and all his feet and ignore any struggling and try and get him to just sit still on your hand, or on a blanket on your lap or something. Only put him down once he has stopped struggling.
My bf's last beardie hadn't been handled much and used to hiss and puff up and generally get upset if you so much as touched him, though he only bit once. Bf got him out for just a few minutes at a time about 10 times a day, no matter how much he tried to run away. Within a couple of weeks he was a lot better but still freaked out if you touched his tail, now he is the friendliest thing ever.
He also said that his first beardie was similar when he rescued her, and he won her round by every time he picked her up he dropped a couple of drops of fruit juice mixed with water on her nose...she soon learned to associate handling with yummy juice, and settled down very quickly.
Some people have said that they get a bit more aggressive when they start to reach sexual maturity, but I've got no experience of that cos ours were got as adults and the babies are still too young, but I'm not sure if your guy is still a bit young for that.
Good luck with him!