\u201cCoastlands, listen to Me in silence,
\nAnd let the peoples gain new strength;
\nLet them come forward, then let them speak;
\nLet us come together for judgment.
\n\u201cWho has aroused one from the east
\nWhom He calls in righteousness to His feet?
\nHe delivers up nations before him
\nAnd subdues kings.
\nHe makes them like dust with his sword,
\nAs the wind-driven chaff with his bow.
\n\u201cHe pursues them, passing on in safety,
\nBy a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
\n\u201cWho has performed and accomplished it,
\nCalling forth the generations from the beginning?
\n\u2018I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.\u2019 \u201d
\nThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;
\nThe ends of the earth tremble;
\nThey have drawn near and have come.
\nEach one helps his neighbor
\nAnd says to his brother, \u201cBe strong!\u201d
\nSo the craftsman encourages the smelter,
\nAnd he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
\nSaying of the soldering, \u201cIt is good\u201d;
\nAnd he fastens it with nails,
\nSo that it will not totter. (Isaiah 41:1-7)<\/p>\n
Sometimes God has to chase us. When God pursues people, it can be for good or ill. The word translated \u201cpursued\u201d in this passage is most commonly used\u2014as it is here\u2014when 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 \u201cgoodness and love\u201d will \u201cfollow\u201d us all the days of our life. That word translated as \u201cfollow\u201d is the very word here that appears as \u201cpursue.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
The discipline that God was bringing against the Israelites for their unfaithfulness was going to be unpleasant. God didn\u2019t 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\u2019ll recognize that it\u2019s all for the best.<\/p>\n
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