Isaiah 48:9-17

"For my name's sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it

for you,

that I may not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as

silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake,

I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he, I am the first,

and I am the last.

My hand laid the foundation of the

earth,

and my right hand spread out the

heavens;

when I call to them,

they stand forth together...

Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.

And now the Lord GOD has sent me,

and his Spirit.

Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of

Israel:

'I am the LORD your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you

should go.

Oh that you had paid attention to my

commandments!

Then your peace would have been like

a river,

and your righteousness like the waves

of the sea...

They did not thirst when he led them

through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the

rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed

out."

"If, believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours, there sitteth by your side One whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest it not, he makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy pillow for thee." - Spurgeon