-fortissimo-

Clap your hands, all peoples!
                Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
        For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
                a great king over all the earth.
(Psalm 47:1-2 ESV)

I love how this text says to rejoice in God so much that you clap your hands and shout, singing loudly with joy. And why are we told to do this? Because the Lord is to be feared. There’s no misinterpreting that!

Are we to have great joy in the Lord?
Yes.
Are we to shout and sing loudly?
Yes.
Are we to fear God?
Yes.
In fact, a healthy fear of God is what brings the joy and the clapping and the shouting.

Sounds confusing? Hey, at least it’s not one-dimensional!
Love is simply complicated.

The important thing to take from this is that we are not commanded anywhere in Scripture to only clap and shout and sing; and we are not commanded anywhere in Scripture to only fear the Lord.
Just another indication that a relationship with the Lord is grounded in reality.

We can’t properly rejoice in God if we do not fear him, and we can’t properly fear God if we do not rejoice in him.