Verse of the Day for June 10

David does not say if I am afraid. He says What time I am afraid. In other words, when. He expects fear to come and has already decided what to do with it.

The pressure he describes is constant. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up. Daily. This is not a single bad afternoon. It is the kind of pressure that wakes you up and is still there at bedtime.

Watch how the three verses move. Verse two is pressure. Verse three is fear met with trust. By verse four he is saying I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. The fearlessness comes last, not first. Trust is what carries him from one to the other.

That order is a relief for anyone who is frightened. You do not have to start at verse four. You can start exactly where David did, afraid, and still be doing the right thing. Fear is not the opposite of trust here. It is the moment trust gets used.

When the pressure comes today, the deadline, the call from the debt collector, the meeting where you know you will be blamed, say the short line from verse three. It was written for the very moment your heart starts to race.

You are allowed to start the day afraid, as long as you take your fear straight to God.

The fearlessness of verse four came after the trust of verse three.