11 O Lord, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.
[g]They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, [h]fire will devour Your enemies.
12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God, other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we [i]confess Your name.
14 The dead will not live, the [j]departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 You have increased the nation, O Lord,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have extended all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, they sought You in distress;
They [k]could only whisper a prayer,
Your chastening was upon them.
17 As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,
Thus were we before You, O Lord.
18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world [l]born.
19 Your dead will live;
[m]Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the [n]dawn,
And the earth will [o]give birth to the [p]departed spirits.20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little [q]while
Until indignation [r]runs its course.
21 For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth will reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.
Despite speaking of peace and the works of God in v. 12, and trusting in God alone in v. 13, the next verse takes a downward turn. The dead will not come back, or rise, or be remembered, for God has “wiped out all remembrance of them.” Though it seems rather hopeless, that is not the end.
The key turning point is in v. 16, “they sought You in distress; they could only whisper a prayer, Your chastening was upon them.” That is, God was disciplining His people, and it was so severe, they could but manage a whisper of a prayer. Not all of them would, I’m sure, as some get angry when God tries to mold and shape them, and turn to their own devices.
But for those who sought God in the middle of their distress? It seemed as if they were in the agony of a pregnant woman, writhing in labor, and they could not “accomplish deliverance”–for anyone on the earth, or for themselves either. Yet God had not forgotten them, and those that seemed doomed, as if they were dead, would live once more, they would even awake and shout for joy. And even for those who die, if they trust in God, they will see Him once more.
This life can be tough enough without God’s discipline, but it is necessary. Whether it is for something we are doing wrong, or to make us stronger, or more loving, or just more like Him, we need His “chastening”. Don’t give up when it gets tough, even if you can only squeak out a whisper. Remember Him who has called you His own, cling to Him, and you will see new life in Him.