Psalm 119:120
My flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements.
....let me not be ashamed of my hope. True
religion consists in a proper mixture of fear of God, and of hope in his mercy;
and wherever either of these is entirely wanting, there can be no true
religion. God has joined these things, and we ought by no means to put them
asunder. He cannot take pleasure in those who fear him with a slavish fear,
without hoping in his mercy, because they seem to consider him as a cruel and
tyrannical being, who has no mercy or goodness in his nature; and, besides,
they implicitly charge him with falsehood, by refusing to believe and hope in
his invitations and offers of mercy. On the other hand, he cannot be pleased
with those who pretend to hope in his mercy without fearing him; for they
insult him by supposing that there is nothing in him which ought to be feared;
and, in addition to this, they make him a liar, by disbelieving his awful
threatenings denounced against sinners, and call in question his authority, by
refusing to obey him. Those only who both fear him and hope in his mercy, give
him the honour that is due to his name. — Edward Payson.
From the additional notes to Charles Spurgeon's The Treasury of David.
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