How is working
out our salvation “with fear and trembling”[1] essential to
experiencing complete joy?[1] Is
it that, if we will respond to God’s inner working for his good pleasure with
fear and trembling, that he will do something that will bring us into complete
joy? Or is it that, if we respond to God
working in us “to will and to work for
his good pleasure,” with the fear and trembling that revere him and his
activity, we will feel the fullness of joy even in the midst of our fear and
trembling?
The more I
consider this, the more it seems like we could experience many variations of
either way of looking at this. There will be times when it seems like we are
facing our most joyless problems with fear and trembling, only to find ourselves
in some experience of God’s grace that returns us to “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”[2]
Other times we
may find such a pure sense of reverence and awe[3] overtakes
us that “in this you rejoice,” even “though now for a little while, if
necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”[4]God
has given us things so worthy of rejoicing that the joy continues even in very
grievous trials. Again, there can be many variations of the degrees of joy and
grief. The issue at hand is that we can relate to the inner work of God with
fear, trembling, and joy, one after the other, or all at the same time.
One of the
clearest and most beautiful expressions of this is revealed to us about our
Savior. The writer of Hebrews presents it like this:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God.[5]
What we see
here is that, even prior to Jesus going to the cross, there was already a “joy that was set before him,” that
enabled him to endure the cross, and despise the shame of death itself,
particularly the humiliating and shameful death of crucifixion. As Jesus worked
out our salvation with the highest example of fear and trembling,[6]taking
each step to the cross conscious of the joy that was set before him, his
obedience to the divine will resulted in him being “seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
One of the
distinctions of the “right hand of the
throne of God,” is that, “in your
presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.”[7]Jesus
is now seated in the fullness of the fullness of joy, working in us to complete
our joy.
It doesn’t
matter to me whether I am facing such abject pain and misery of my soul that I
can’t even remember the last time I felt joy, there is still the fullness of
joy set before me, and I will feel it once again. As the Psalmist wrote, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy
comes with the morning.”[8]
I fully expect
there will be times when, even in the midst of something that is far from
joyful, I will know what this means, “And
do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”[9]Jesus
is with me in everything I go through, so it makes sense that a heart seeking
him with fear and trembling would also find strength in his joy.
After all,
this is what Jesus promised, “These
things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may
be full.”[1] On the days
when sorrow overwhelms our joy, we can return to the words Jesus has spoken to
us so that we can feel his joy in us, giving us strength, and our own joy
rising up to the full. While heaven alone can give us the complete perfection
of his “fullness of joy,” and the
pleasures that are at his right hand forevermore, it is obvious that we can
have a greater experience of joy even today.
All it takes
is to be willing to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because
God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure. Since it is his
good pleasure to return us to joy, let’s pay close attention to whatever he is
doing inside us, even if it looks like the scariest thing we have ever faced in
our lives.
Actually, Jesus
has already experienced the scariest thing we could ever face in our lives, and
he did so with his eyes on the joy that was set before him. There’s got to be
some way that could work for us today, wouldn’t you agree?
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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