I Samuel 11:7
“He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.”
Many emotions have been ascribed to the Lord. For example, someone might say, “He was touched by God’s love” or “She was filled with a godly remorse”. Today’s passage references one not often heard, “the dread of the Lord fell on the people”.
This reminisent of the fear of the Lord. Which means a respect for God, but also a fear or dread of not listening to Him. If one ignores God’s word, then there is an eternal punishment that awaits. That produces a godly dread.
Why would the Lord want us to feel dread? 2 Corinthians 7:10 speaks of sorrow. While it’s clearly different, a similar result is the purpose. “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” The emotions that God promotes have a positive purpose. They are to draw us to Him.
Paul also references worldly sorrow, which could also apply to other worldly emotions. He says that they produce death. While this isn’t speaking of mortal death, but more of a decay. These could be guilt, anxiety, shame, depression and the like. We’ve all felt the result of those. If we were told to pick one of those emotions and think of a time when we were burdened with it, we could be transported back to a dark time. Those dreadful emotions could resurface.
We all seek to cope with those emotions in varied ways. Some of those ways can be more destructive. We all think of substance abuse. Others could be to take out frustrations on others. Some withdraw and isolate themselves. There are a host of other unhelpful ways. As Paul said, they produce death.
The bible speaks of another type of death, it’s separation from God. Adam and Eve were told that if they ate of the fruit, they would die. On that day, they were removed from the garden and separated from God. Worldly sorrow is going in a different direction than the Lord. The chasm between God and that individual grows broader. God’s light that He shines on us to draw us grows more dim. Not that He does that. It’s more on us. We are closing the blinds to keep Him out.
Emotions were created to help us live life. Today we’ve addressed dread and sorrow. They are important. They are the warning lights to inform us when something is wrong. Lord, help us to heed those warnings. Thank You for emotions.