“Coastlands, listen to Me in silence,
And let the peoples gain new strength;
Let them come forward, then let them speak;
Let us come together for judgment.
“Who has aroused one from the east
Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet?
He delivers up nations before him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
As the wind-driven chaff with his bow.
“He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
“Who has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’ ”
The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The ends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
So the craftsman encourages the smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
So that it will not totter. (Isaiah 41:1-7)

Sometimes God has to chase us. When God pursues people, it can be for good or ill. The word translated “pursued” in this passage is most commonly used—as it is here—when someone is being chased, as an animal might be chased by hunters. But it can also be used more positively, as in the final verse of the famous Psalm 23 which explains that “goodness and love” will “follow” us all the days of our life. That word translated as “follow” is the very word here that appears as “pursue.” Goodness and love pursue us all the days of our life. God has to chase us with it. We resist his will for us. Too often we fear what God wants to do, imagining it is something he intends to do to us rather than for us.

The discipline that God was bringing against the Israelites for their unfaithfulness was going to be unpleasant. God didn’t pretend otherwise. But like bad tasting medicine that made people shudder, in the end it was for their good. So it is with whatever God does. It may frighten us, but in the end, we’ll recognize that it’s all for the best.

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