⁹  “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.

¹⁰  Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Isaiah 48:9-10

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God will redeem and rescue the house of Jacob out of Babylonian captivity for his name’s sake.  For the sake of his praise, he will cut short the days of affliction and bring them back.

The curious line is v. 10: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.”  Moyter is helpful here:

Silver endures the crucible until all dross is gone. Were the Lord to deal with his people just like that, nothing would remain (1:22). Therefore, though he brings his people through trials, there is always a limit set: they are never treated as they deserve, always for the fulfillment of his purpose (Heb. 12:10).

J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 341.

Indeed, even in his judgment, God is gracious.  He does not carry the just punishment through to completion but spares Israel.  God made perfect justice later through Jesus (Rom. 3:25).

So too does God spare us from what we deserve.  We are not refined as silver but are spared for his praise.  So may we praise.