Tim Michiemo's Reviews > Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord

3.5 Stars

Michael Reeves' "Rejoice and Tremble" is a short theological treatment of the fear of the Lord. Reeves' book explains the difference between sinful and right fear, and that our fear of God should be motivated by a vision of God and all His attributes. Right fear of the Lord comes from seeing God in all His goodness and then running to Him, rather than from Him. And we can grow in the fear of the Lord by looking to the cross and loving the gospel more.

Reeves' book is an excellent devotional and theological reminder of the fear of the Lord. This book stirred my heart to not only rejoice in the Lord but to tremble before Him as well. Yet, although Reeves' book had moments of grand theological insights and gospel reminders, it suffers from poor execution. Reeves does not open his book with a central thesis, so I felt directionless throughout the remainder of the book. It seemed as if Reeves was repetitive and rambling, rather than heading towards a main goal or arguing a central point. As well Reeves drowns his book in quotations. There are times when quotations are helpful and illuminate the central point, and other times when they distract from the main flow of argumentation – unfortunately, Reeves' book falls into the latter.

Overall Reeves addresses a topic that is difficult to tackle, "the fear of the Lord," and brings helpful new insights. As well he rightly reminds us of the centrality of the gospel and our need to rejoice in God as well as tremble before Him. Yet his execution made it difficult for me to give him a higher rating. I'm hoping that Reeves comes back and offers us a second edition of this book that is more organized and less inundated with quotations.