Fear & Joy
There is a little phrase in Matthew’s account of the Resurrection I didn’t catch until Easter Sunday this year:
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
— Matthew 28:8 ESV
Gut reaction: those emotions aren’t meant to coexist. To fear someone is to view him as threatening, with the power and intent to harm. I ain’t taking joy in that.
After breathing for a second: I know that’s too simple of a definition given how “fear” is used across Scripture. Whether we ought to (and the type of) fear depends on the direction it’s oriented. Toward earthly things, we shouldn’t fear anything.
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
— Psalm 56:3-4 NASB (1995)
It’s also quite often given as an imperative:
…it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you."
— Isaiah 41:13 ESV
…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
— Matthew 10:28 ESV
You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"
— Lamentations 3:57 ESV
To trust God is to fear nothing subject to Him. But that same God demands a humble, reverent fear toward Himself. That’s in Scripture too.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…
— Psalm 111:10 ESV
Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”
— Proverbs 3:7 ESV
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
— Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV
Verses like that almost make fear seem like a loose synonym for “humbling yourself.” But in our right minds, I think it should also feel like the inevitable result of our fallenness approaching His holiness. Isaiah’s encounter even makes “fear” sound insufficient. It reads more like "awe-struck terror."
Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
— Isaiah 6:5 NASB (1995)
As petrifying as that experience is, there’s no threat in it. There is no intent to harm. Isaiah instead gets something very different: atonement and a calling.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
— Isaiah 6:56-8 NASB (1995)
I don’t think Isaiah answered that call because he believed God would otherwise smite him. It looks more like a reflex of gratitude; a joyful zeal in response to mercy. A suitable reaction to the fact that a terrifying, wrathful God could’ve justifiably annihilated him, but didn’t.
Reading that makes the marriage of “fear” and “joy” feel not so farfetched. Other passages do the same. Nahum describes a vengeful, vehemently just God who will not tolerate the guilt of His enemies. But toward those who trust Him, He is a refuge:
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
The Lord is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
— Nahum 1:3-6 ESV
The most formidable being in existence is good. He knows me, and is willing to protect. You can’t come against someone guarded by a God who can melt the hills. There’s so much relief in that idea, and yet no compromise to His fearsomeness. The harmony is a little unexpected. It’s in this passage too:
Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
— Isaiah 8:12–14 ESV
And here:
In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.
— Proverbs 14:26 ESV
This may forever bewilder me. Our fear (or “dread”) of God should not cause us to flee. It should draw us closer into His security. A place where we can entrust our own children.
Our intimacy with the Father through Christ can’t not come to mind thinking through this. My Father’s fearsomeness will never be weaponized against me. It holds me, shields me, and is wielded in my favor. I want to submit to & draw more near to a Father like that. My trembling along the way is a only a reminder He’s worthy of it.
I think the women at the tomb might’ve felt that way too.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
— Psalm 2:11 ESV