Verse of the Day for June 24

Before Paul's great line, he quotes a lament. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. It comes from Psalm forty four, a song of people who felt God had abandoned them.

Paul lets the frightening voice speak first. He does not skip over it or soften it. Sheep for the slaughter is how some believers in Rome actually felt.

Then one word. Nay. It is almost abrupt, like someone standing up in the middle of a conversation to disagree. Fear has had its say. Now comes the answer.

Notice where the victory happens. in all these things, not out of them or after them. The persecution is still there. And the source is a person, not a mood. through him that loved us. Paul's courage rests on having been loved, in the past tense, at the cross.

When fear speaks first today, and it often does, before your feet touch the floor or the moment you pick up your phone, let it finish its sentence. Then answer it with Paul's one word, Nay, and remind yourself whose love you are standing in.

You do not have to silence fear before you answer it.

The victory is in these things, not after them.