He is with you, even unfelt
Start the week with the claim everything else rests on: God is with you, and His being with you does not depend on your sensing it. We are wired to read a quiet, hard stretch as God stepping back. Scripture does not connect the two. He told His people I am with you as a settled fact, in good stretches and empty onesalike. When you feel nothing, that is information about your feelings, not about where God is. Today, when He seems far, speak to Him as if He is right here, because He is, and let the fact carry you when the feeling will not.
Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee.
Isaiah 41:10 · ASVGod speaks this to a fearful people and grounds the fear not in His presence: I am with thee. The promise to strengthen and help follows from His being there, not from their courage.
And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Matthew 28:20 · ASVJesus' last words before ascending are a promise of presence: I am with you always. Always deliberately includes the ordinary and the empty days, not only the high ones.
Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9 · ASVAs Joshua faces an overwhelming task, God ties courage to His presence, commanding him to be strong because Jehovah is with him wherever he goes. God's presence is given as the reason for the courage.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 · ASVIn the darkest valley David's comfort is not the absence of danger but a Person: thou art with me. God's nearness, not a change in circumstances, is what steadies him.