Relation of Gladness to Godly Fear
Psalm 128:1-6
Blessed is every one that fears the LORD; that walks in his ways.…


G. K. Chesterton remarks — "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of pleasure." When life ceases to be a mystery it ceases to hold the secret of joy. The world that has banished awe has banished wholesome laughter. The ages that have known most of religious fear are the ages from which have come the most lyrical notes of Christian joy. Those older ages lived and breathed and rejoiced in God amidst their dark theologies. had stern, stupendous ideas of the Deity, and yet it was he who sang —

"Jesus, the very thought of Thee,

With sweetness fills my breast." Samuel Rutherford was steeped in all the rigours of a Calvinism which touches the very springs of awe in the human breast, and yet from him came the love letters of Christianity — letters too sacred for any except our most solitary moods. The moment we cease to tremble before God we cease to know joy.

(W. C. Piggott.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: {A Song of degrees.} Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.

WEB: Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, who walks in his ways.




Practical Fear
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