THE JOYFUL FEAR OF THE LORD

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (Ps. 2:11)

You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! (Ps. 22:23)

He will bless those who fear the LORD, both small and great. (Ps. 115:13)

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.… As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. (Ps. 103:11, 13)

    Blessed is the man who fears the LORD. (Ps. 112:1)

    Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. (Ps. 128:1)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov. 9:10)

The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil. (Prov. 19:23)

    His delight is in the fear of the LORD. (Isa. 11:3)

    His mercy is on those who fear Him. (Luke 1:50)


When we were young believers, we exulted in the joy of the Lord. After all, our sins were forgiven, we were learning from the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit was enabling us to walk in victory. We were certain that this exciting new life would never change—but it did!

If our faith is to grow and become stronger, it must be tested; and so temptations and trials confront us as the world, the flesh, and the devil oppose us (Eph. 2:1–3; 1 John 2:15–17).

Occasionally we lose the victory and deliberately disobey the Lord. Then we confessed our sins, and from our hearts prayed, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Ps. 51:12). We claimed 1 John 1:9 and got up and made a new beginning.

But the enemy doesn’t want us to be joyful so he begins to accuse us (Zech. 3:1–5; Rev. 12:10). He wants the memory of our sins to trouble us, discourage us, and make us worry about consequences. When Satan tempted us, he whispered, “Don’t worry, you can get away with this!” But after we sinned, he shouted, “You will never get away with this!” Then the fear of the Lord moved in and we began to wonder if the Father would chasten us. The joy of the Lord and the fear of the Lord must be replaced by the joyful fear of the Lord.

Let’s think about what it means to experience joyful fear continually instead of riding the rollercoaster of joy and fear—up one day and down the next.