So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew 28:8
Two opposite emotions meshed into one – fear and great joy.
Have you ever witnessed a miracle? If you have, then you understand how these two feelings can well up inside you and press against your chest so hard it makes your heart ache. You have unexplainable joy that a prayer has been answered, even the one prayed deep within you that you could just not express in words. It is the joy of a child getting his or her fondest Christmas wish times a hundred fold. It really takes your breath away and brings tears gushing.
Then it hits you. The Almighty did this. He reached down His hand and intervened in space and time and changed its course, just for you. He not only actually heard your plea, He granted your deepest desire. He did the impossible and it cost you nothing, because you could never ever have enough to repay Him. That realization brings you to your knees in humble fear. You realize that you are a microscopic ant and in comparison he is Mount Everest. The gap between you and God is huge, yet He bridged it.
That is how the women felt that first Easter day at the empty tomb. I know, because I have witnessed His miracles in my life. Have you? If you have claimed Him as your Savior, yes, you have. If you have prayed for healing and it has been granted, or survived a natural disaster, or held a newborn in your arms, or witnessed the moment of peace right before a believer takes their last breath on this earth and passes over, yes you have. Miracles are happening all around us. The Divine is breaking through the mundane all the time. When you encounter it, or perhaps it is better to say when it encounters you, how will you react? With doubt and disbelief, or with great joy and fear?
