and we shout for joy because…

Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

For the LORD, the Most High, is…___

Ok, fill in the blank time, everybody. Psalm 47 commands all people to shout to God with loud songs of joy because the LORD is…

?loving and merciful?

?gracious and forgiving?

?maybe because He has a wonderful purpose for your life?

Well, even though all of those answers sound “nice” the Bible actually commands us to shout to God with loud songs of joy because the Lord is…

to be feared, a great king over all the earth. (Psalm 47:2 ESV)

Wait, wait a minute. We’re supposed to be so filled with joy that we break out in song because God provokes fear in us? No, that just can’t be right.

Or can it?

The word for “to be feared”, I bet the ESV just got the translation wrong. Yea, that’s it. I mean the NKJV and the NIV say “awesome”, yea, that sounds better, “God is awesome”— sounds like a line out of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Of course, there is the little matter of the actual Hebrew word yare’. It is a primitive root that, uh, means “fear.” In fact, in the old KJV, translated before 20th century sensibilities about how we should think of God set in, the word is translated “fear” 188 times, “afraid” 78 times, and “terrible” or “dreadful” 35 times.

But how can this be? How can a God who makes men afraid, who is terrible and dreadful make us burst out in joyful song?

The key is the next phrase, because God is “a great king over all the earth.” Only a God who can make us drop to our knees quaking in fear is a God who can also make our enemies drop to their knees quaking in fear.

To borrow from one of John Eldredge’s favorite allusions, do you want a Jesus who is more like Mr. Rogers or more like William Wallace? Well, if you see life as a war, as a life and death struggle between good and evil (which it is, by the way), and these guys show up in your “neighborhood”—

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which one of these men would make you shout for joy to have on your side?

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Bring on the blue face paint, baby!

Yes, we can gladly shout for joy because our God is a God to be feared!(cross-posted at www.xpound.org!)

You might also enjoy these articles:

1. From Fear to Faith
2. Moving Beyond “Little Faith”
3. What God Thinks of Pragmatism
4. Why Are You so Afraid?
5. Peter’s Seven Lessons on the Sea