“Twas Grace That Taught My Heart To Fear, And Grace My Fears Relieved”
In the second verse of “Amazing Grace,” we sing the words:
“Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”
These words shows us the immense power that the grace of God has on our lives.
The Gospel Coalition defines grace as:
“God’s saving grace is the unmerited favor of God that reconciles sinners through Jesus Christ.”
In our text for Sunday, James writes these words in James 4:6-8a:
“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
With those things in mind, let’s look at the two phrases from verse 2 of “Amazing Grace” and discuss the immense impact God’s grace has on our lives.
“’Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear”
Why would God’s unmerited favor cause us to fear? Why would God reconciling sinners to Himself through Christ cause us fear?
The use of the word “fear” in this stanza of “Amazing Grace” does not mean fear as we typically understand it today; instead, it carries tones of reverence and awe.
In his book “The Meaning of Marriage,” Tim Keller makes the following comments on “fear”:
“Fear in the Bible means to be overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord is to be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and His love. It means that, because of His bright holiness and magnificent love, you find Him ‘fearfully beautiful.’ That is why the more we experience God’s grace and forgiveness, the more we experience a trembling awe and wonder before the greatness of all that He is and has done for us. Fearing Him means bowing before Him out of amazement at His glory and beauty.”
Tim Keller
The Meaning Of Marriage
In other words, God’s grace towards us (Romans 5:8) should cause our hearts to be overwhelmed by the greatness of God and His love.
Earlier in this chapter of James, we see ways we come up short in living in a way that honors God. But God’s grace is greater than our failures. God’s grace is not dependent upon our successes (Ephesians 2:8-9). God’s grace does not fail to cover our mistakes and reconcile us to God.
That alone should cause our hearts to tremble in awe and wonder.
But wait, there’s more…
“And grace my fears relieved”
In our key passage in James, it says: “Submit yourselves therefore to God… draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
This grace given to us isn’t just an act of cleansing and redemption. It’s an adoption into a family where God, our loving Father, promises that we will never have to face the circumstances of life alone. He will be with us through every twist and turn of life.
He has the power to relieve our earthly fears.
However, in order for us to receive that blessing, we need to submit ourselves to His ways. David Guzik says that we need to order ourselves under God’s authority—in other words, to start living our lives by God’s rules, not ours.
As we do that, we will find that the grace given to us “the hour we first believed” will not only overwhelm us with God’s goodness but also give us the wisdom, guidance, and strength to navigate the fears of this life.
Adam