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Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good
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What’s Rejoice and Tremble About?
The Publisher’s Description:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” —Proverbs 1:7
Fear is one of the strongest human emotions—and one that often baffles Christians. In the Bible the picture can seem equally confusing: Is fear a good thing or a bad thing? And what does it mean to “fear the Lord”?
In Rejoice and Tremble, Michael Reeves clears the clouds of confusion and shows that the fear of the Lord is not a negative thing at all, but an intensely delighted wondering at God, our Creator and Redeemer.
The High Point of the Book
There was one chapter that made the time I spent reading the book as a whole absolutely worth it. It’s called “How to Grow in This Fear.” The focus of the chapter is on how both Scripture and faith work in a believer’s heart and life to increase Godly Fear. I found it inspiring and convicting.
The Series Design and How This Book Deals with It
According to the Series Preface, this is the first book in a series called Union, “an attempt to express and share” certain values. “[W]e long to grow and support men and women who will delight in God, grow in Christ, serve the church, and bless the world.”
All well and good, but later it states,
Each exploration of a subject in the Union series will appear in two versions: a full volume and a concise one. The idea is that church leaders can read the full treatment, such as this one and so delve into each topic while making the more accessible concise version widely available to their congregations.
This not-concise book is 168 pages, the other version is 80—so I guess it’s not as full. But 168 pages of pretty easy reading isn’t what I’d think of as the domain of leaders. If this was the accessible, short version of a 4-500 academic text, I wouldn’t complain (and I’d be interested in that other volume, too). But this? This doesn’t need a simpler, shorter version.
So, what did I think about Rejoice and Tremble?
I truly think this is a better book than I give it credit for. But it didn’t do a whole lot for me.
I think it wasn’t the right time for me to read this—I’m not sure when a better time might be, but I didn’t connect with most of the material. I saw what he was doing (usually), but didn’t find it terribly compelling. I give both the topic and Reeves more credit than that, so I assume it was me.
I also think I was put off by the idea that this was intended to be an inaccessible volume for those who aren’t leaders in the church—there was nothing in this book that my seventeen-year-old couldn’t have handled. I really think reading that Series Preface put me off. If I pick this up again in a couple of years, I’m going to work harder on ignoring that.
It’s a decent read, it’s a good reminder of the place that a Biblical Fear of the Lord should hold in the Christian life. I cautiously recommend it. My guess is that most readers will get more out of it than I did.
