Today’s Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 02/11/2024
Listen to our Bible
Study Discussion at: The Fear of the Lord vs. The Joy of the Lord Podcasr
Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube:
The Fear of the LORD vs. The Joy
of the LORD
“And they departed quickly
from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His disciples
word.” Mat. 28:8
These two expressive human
emotions would seem to be at odds with each other. In the above verse we see
fear and joy persisting together within the same experience. It shouldn’t be
surprising that it is said of the “women” at the tomb.
Today we intend to explore
the dynamics of these two emotions as foretold in Scripture. Our emotional self
is certainly of consequence to God for He created us such. Our feelings are an
important mechanism that we use to engage the world around us. Untethered, both
can be damaging, and yet Scripture speaks of both in useful, positive and life
giving fashion.
In a positive sense, the fear
of the LORD is most commonly associated with, “The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of wisdom.” The word “fear” (yir`a) is defined in the Strong’s
“morally, reverence: dreadful, exceedingly, fear(-fulness).
Most Evangelicals
hyper-fixate on “reverence” since dread is not something we like to associate
with our NT heavenly Daddy. We’ve never seen Him face to face.
Jesus, who knows the Father,
says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But
rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mat. 10:28
Sometimes the pendulum of our
thinking travels too far in one direction or the other.
It’s noteworthy that the fear
of the LORD is associated with wisdom. Ps. 34:11 says, “Come, you children,
listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”
and then goes into some
instruction and promises.
“The joy of the LORD is your
strength.” we receive from Neh. 8:10. In this verse the assembly of Israelites
was actually being rebuked by Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites who taught the
people, because, after hearing the reading of the Law they wept and sorrowed
because of their sin.
“’Do not sorrow, for the joy
of the LORD is your strength.’ So the Levites quieted all the people, saying,
‘Bestill, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.’” Neh. 8:10,11
Predominantly, elsewhere in
Scripture, particularly in Psalms, this joy is associated with victory over
enemies.
Ps. 27:6, “And now my head
shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will
offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing,
yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”
Singing is also a prominent
expression of joy.
In the NT we read, I Th. 1:6,
“And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in
much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.”
I would submit that this joy
is associated with the victory over sin though Christ sacrificial death and
resurrection.
In the previous Pentecostal
generation, we use to say, “Too much Spirit and not enough word and you blow
up, too much word and not enough Spirit and you dry up.”
I believe that we see the
same tension expressed here between fear, giving way to wisdom, and joy on
account of an experience.
Once again, our mantra here
is, balance. Since both of these emotions are expressed in Scripture, they
should be embraced appropriately and in measure with the circumstances. We are
no more called to a constant state of Polly Anna-ish rejoicing than we are to a
constant trembling fear. As in our opening verse, we can bring both before the
Lord in righteous harmony.
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