Comfort from Recalling God's Mighty Deeds

771 My voice rises to God , and I will cry aloud ; My voice rises to God , and He will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord ; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness ; My soul refused to be comforted . 3 When I remember God , then I am disturbed ; When I sigh , then my spirit grows faint . Selah . 4 You have held my eyelids e open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak . 5 I have considered the days of old , The years of long ago . 6 I will remember my song in the night ; I will meditate with my heart , And my spirit ponders : 7 Will the Lord reject forever ? And will He never be favorable again ? 8 Has His lovingkindness ceased forever ? Has His promise come to an end forever ? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious , Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion ? Selah . 10 Then I said , " It is my grief , That the right hand of the Most High has changed ."

11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord ; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old . 12 I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds . 13 Your way , O God , is holy ; What god is great like our God ? 14 You are the God who works wonders ; You have made known Your strength among the peoples . 15 You have by Your power redeemed Your people , The sons of Jacob and Joseph . Selah . 16 The waters saw You, O God ; The waters saw You, they were in anguish ; The deeps also trembled . 17 The clouds poured out water ; The skies gave forth a sound ; Your arrows flashed here and there. 18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind ; The lightnings lit up the world ; The earth trembled and shook . 19 Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters , And Your footprints may not be known . 20 You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron .

God's Faithfulness to His Unfaithful People

781 Listen , O my people , to my instruction ; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth . 2 I will open my mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings of old , 3 Which we have heard and known , And our fathers have told us. 4 We will not conceal them from their children , But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord , And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done . 5 For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel , Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children , 6 That the generation to come might know , even the children yet to be born , That they may arise and tell them to their children , 7 That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God , But keep His commandments , 8 And not be like their fathers , A stubborn and rebellious generation , A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God .

9 The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows , Yet they turned back in the day of battle . 10 They did not keep the covenant of God And refused to walk in His law ; 11 They forgot His deeds And His miracles that He had shown them. 12 He wrought wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt , in the field of Zoan . 13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through , And He made the waters stand up like a heap . 14 Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire . 15 He split the rocks in the wilderness And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths . 16 He brought forth streams also from the rock And caused waters to run down like rivers . 17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert . 18 And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire . 19 Then they spoke against God ; They said , " Can God prepare a table in the wilderness ? 20 "Behold , He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing ; Can He give bread also ? Will He provide meat for His people ?" 21 Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath ; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel , 22 Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation . 23 Yet He commanded the clouds above e And opened the doors of heaven ; 24 He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven . 25 Man did eat the bread of angels ; He sent them food in abundance . 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens And by His power He directed the south wind . 27 When He rained meat upon them like the dust , Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas , 28 Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp , Round about their dwellings . 29 So they ate and were well filled , And their desire He gave to them. 30 Before they had satisfied their desire , While their food was in their mouths , 31 The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel . 32 In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works . 33 So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror . 34 When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God ; 35 And they remembered that God was their rock , And the Most High God their Redeemer . 36 But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue . 37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant . 38 But He, being compassionate , forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath . 39 Thus He remembered that they were but flesh , A wind that passes and does not return .

40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert ! 41 Again and again they tempted God , And pained the Holy One of Israel . 42 They did not remember His power , The day when He redeemed them from the adversary , 43 When He performed His signs in Egypt And His marvels in the field of Zoan , 44 And turned their rivers to blood , And their streams , they could not drink . 45 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them. 46 He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust . 47 He destroyed their vines with hailstones And their sycamore trees with frost . 48 He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones And their herds to bolts of lightning . 49 He sent upon them His burning anger , Fury and indignation and trouble , A band of destroying angels . 50 He leveled a path for His anger ; He did not spare their soul from death , But gave over their life to the plague , 51 And smote all the firstborn in Egypt , The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham . 52 But He led forth His own people like sheep And guided them in the wilderness like a flock ; 53 He led them safely , so that they did not fear ; But the sea engulfed their enemies . 54 So He brought them to His holy land , To this hill country which His right hand had gained . 55 He also drove out the nations before e them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement , And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents . 56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies , 57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers ; They turned aside like a treacherous bow . 58 For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images . 59 When God heard , He was filled with wrath And greatly abhorred Israel ; 60 So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh , The tent which He had pitched among men , 61 And gave up His strength to captivity And His glory into the hand of the adversary . 62 He also delivered His people to the sword , And was filled with wrath at His inheritance . 63 Fire devoured His young men , And His virgins had no wedding songs . 64 His priests fell by the sword , And His widows could not weep . 65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep , Like a warrior overcome by wine . 66 He drove His adversaries backward ; He put on them an everlasting reproach . 67 He also rejected the tent of Joseph , And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim , 68 But chose the tribe of Judah , Mount Zion which He loved . 69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights , Like the earth which He has founded forever . 70 He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds e ; 71 From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people , And Israel His inheritance . 72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart , And guided them with his skillful hands .

101 Brethren , my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation . 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God , but not in accordance with knowledge . 3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own , they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God . 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes . 5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness . 6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows : " DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART , 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN ?' (that is, to bring Christ down ), 7 or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS ?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead )." 8 But what does it say ? " THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart "-that is, the word of faith which we are preaching , 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord , and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead , you will be saved ; 10 for with the heart a person believes , resulting in righteousness , and with the mouth he confesses , resulting in salvation . 11 For the Scripture says , " WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED ."

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek ; for the same Lord is Lord of all , abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for " WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE Lord WILL BE SAVED ." 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed ? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard ? And how will they hear without a preacher ? 15 How will they preach unless e they are sent ? Just as it is written , " HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS !" 16 However , they did not all heed the good news ; for Isaiah says , " Lord , WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT ?" 17 So faith comes from hearing , and hearing by the word of Christ . 18 But I say , surely they have never e heard , have they? Indeed they have; " THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH , AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD ." 19 But I say , surely Israel did not know , did they? First Moses says , " I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION , BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER 20 And Isaiah is very bold and says , " I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME." 21 But as for Israel He says , " ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE ."