Isaiah 43

God calls out to the people who follow him, "Do not be afraid." Of what could we be afraid? In verse 2 he mentions deep waters through which we WILL pass. Judah would endure a siege and exile. God did not say they would not face those horrors, but he promised to be with them. He also mentioned a fiery path. The pain of their humiliation and death were to be intense. But it would not consume them, and it didn't. Christians have the same promises. Trials and suffering will be with us through this life, but God will bring us through.
Stuart