When you doubt

He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹³ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”

¹⁶ “Surely I will be with you,” the LORD replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”

¹⁷ Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

²⁰ I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

²¹ You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.

Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”

³⁶ Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

³⁷ David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”

⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷ And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

¹² Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹³ Meanwhile all the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, were standing before the LORD.

¹⁷ So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.

¹⁸ Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

²⁰ where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come, declares the LORD. Then your children will return from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷ So there is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children will return to their own land.

¹⁵ Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.

¹⁶ Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.

⁷ But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.