Do it afraid

Matthew 28:8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

How can a person be afraid and filled with joy at the same time?  How can you actually do something if you are fearful?  Those women at Jesus’ tomb did these things and I have often wondered at this seemingly impossible thing.  Then I think about two specific times in my life when I was fearful yet filled with joy and I realize this is not really an oxymoron at tall.  The day I boarded my first flight to Lebanon is vivid in my mind.  I felt “scared to death” at my first trip overseas, alone, to live in another country.  But I was filled with joy because I was fulfilling God’ will for me.  And the day I got married was similar … afraid but also excited and happy at the prospect of my marriage.  Both times I was ready to tell anyone who was listening about what I was doing, and that is how the women felt, I am sure.  The fear and joy did not deter them from running to their next responsibility, to tell the disciples, and it may have even motivated them.  So it can be for me as well.  My fear or my joy can both be my motivation to do whatever it is God is directing me to do.  Do it afraid, as they say!

Full of joy

Luke 10:21 Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”

This prayer of Jesus makes me feel “weepy” as I consider the delight He had in His spirit over watching His disciples and listening to their excited accounts of how God had blessed their ministries as they had gone out two-by-two.  He was full of joy, this verse says, and I see a couple sources of that joy:

            1. He had joy because the disciples were so excited over their ministry;

            2. He had joy because God had been willing to use such simple men for His purposes;

            3. He had joy because the disciples had grown so much in their knowledge and understanding of spiritual things.

This encourages me because I can picture His joy over me when I grow spiritually as well.