Much as last week’s service centered around the contrast between truth and falsehood, much of the material in this morning’s service contrasts the two senses of the word fear: we will read and sing about fear, both as a “negative emotion stirred up by the expectation of danger or trouble”, and as “intense reverence or veneration.” Revelation 15, which is included in the Call to Worship and the opening hymn, commands us to fear the Lord and glorify His name. We sing from Psalm 76, which concludes with a vision of all earthly rulers coming to “fear the Lord upon His day,” and we are promised in Psalm 145, “He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him.” These are examples of that second sense of the word, indicating respect, reverence, and awe. At the same time, we are also told repeatedly in the service to “fear not” (Isaiah 41), to “give to the winds your fears” (O Put Your Trust In God), to have “no fear in death” (In Christ Alone), and to “fearless launch away” (On Jordan’s Stormy Banks)—fears aroused by our circumstances or our own weaknesses. We are commanded to fear God. We are likewise commanded not to fear men (Matthew 10:28). When we face trials or difficulties, let’s pray along with the author of Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah for our Lord to “bid [our] anxious fears subside.”
—Henry C. Haffner
