Isaiah 57:16 “For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.”
When the Lord’s people slip away into rebellious sin, and fails to repent after admonition, He does indeed severely chasten them to correct their behavior (Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 3:19). But, He is our loving and merciful Heavenly Father and He “will not contend for ever, neither will” He “be always wroth”. That is, nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39), and as He told Israel, “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). His chastening is often dreadful, but He will never “change” His eternal love and sure promises to His Children that He has “made”; that is, Children that He has “made”, “chosen” (Ephesians 1:4) to be His very own. He knows our human limits, and He mercifully and tenderly comes to us and delivers us so that our “spirit should” not “fail before” Him and our “souls” [lives] would not swoon away into ruin. When king David was about to be chastened for his disobedience and was given options, he said “let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies” (I Chronicles 21:13). After His corrective chastening, our Lord gently embraces His Children with the most tender love of His Holy Spirit.