Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap.

Today, we recounted the story of the paralytic man whose friends carried him to Jesus for healing.

We first read this story in Luke 5 and Mark 2.

Luke's and Mark's accounts of the people's response are consistent with each other,

but they seem to vary from what we read from Matthew today.

Luke said, Amazement sees them all and they glorify God and were filled with awe.

And Mark said, they were all amazed and glorified God, but today, Matthew says something that seems to contradict that.

He says, when the crowds saw it, they were afraid and they glorified God.

So which is it? Were they amazed or were they afraid? Yes, there's no contradiction in these accounts, and here's why.

If you are with us for the Old Testament, this will be a bit of a refresher from way back on day 36.

When Scripture tells God's kids to fear Him, it isn't about terror.

Terror makes you run from something.

That's contradictory to God's entire objective of drawing near to His people.

The kind of fear Scripture describes when it talks about fearing God actually conveys reverence and awe.

It's joy adjacent. It has the effect of drawing us to God, not away from Him.

It's the way we feel about the Grand Canyon.

We take long trips to get to it, stand on the edge of it with our eyes and mouths open wide, taking it all in,

while simultaneously being fully aware that it has the power to kill us.

This is awe and delight and respect. This is the kind of fear we're supposed to have toward God.

Many of us will have to reframe how we think of the phrase, the fear of the Lord.

For those who know Him, the fear of the Lord is comprised primarily of delight and awe.

For those who don't know Him, the regular kind of fear is fitting, because His wrath remains on them,

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