CHEER THE HEART
Sirach 1:10-11 (not in Protestant Bible)
The fear of the Lord will cheer the heart
And will give gladness, joy, and long life.
For those who fear the Lord, it shall be well to the utmost,
And on the day of his death, he will be blessed.
Encouraging Words
One of the challenges with the English language is that it often misses the original context of ancient languages in translation. For example, in the ancient Greek language there were 9 words for love (eros, philia, storge, pragma, ludus, mania, muraki, philautia, and agape) while in English we use one word, love, for all of these. The same is for the phrase “fear of the Lord”. As followers of Christ, we read this as respect, trust, commitment to, and other terms as opposed to being afraid for our lives. This ancient text of Sirach, dated around 180 BC, shows the results of seeing our God through these definitions of “fear. ” He cheers our heart. We receive gladness, joy, and long life. Our lives will be well to the utmost. We will be blessed. This results from a healthy fear (awe, respect, trust) of our loving and merciful God. Glory be to Him!
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