Today in Morning Prayer, we read Isaiah the prophet who said,
“God is my Savior; I am confident and unafraid.”
Isaiah died for the faith being sawn in half by wicked men whom he did not fear. Solomon said,
“The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth:
but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread.”
Think of the martyrs and heroic saints of history. St. Paul wrote of them:
By faith [they] conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders. Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented. The world was not worthy of them.
Do you live with the courage and strength of a just man? Or, are you marked by the cowardice and weakness of the wicked?
