A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
There are lots of reasons crushed defines many of us these days.
When we look around at the political, medical, cultural, and meteorological happenings in our world, even the calmest among us may become anxious. The world has been all-but-stopped by the global pandemic. We have now started our third pass through the alphabet with tropical storms. The west is plagued by forest fires and the military has been called into Louisiana to fight mosquitoes. We are simultaneously shocked and horrified at what has become acceptable — both morally and legally.
And that is just all the “out there” stuff.
Individually we are battling loneliness, financial challenges, medical issues, and relational struggles that might be too personal to share. We are depressed (some even clinically). We are exhausted. We are outraged. We feel powerless to stop the advance of evil.
Whatever emotion a human can experience, we have individually and collectively experienced it in 2020.
We can identify when the author of Proverbs writes, “…a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Thankfully, he also gives us the antidote: a cheerful heart.
A cheerful heart is good medicine…
A cheerful heart is not one that simply chooses to grin and bear it — or one that checks out of reality. And certainly, it is more than simply the practice of positive thinking.
My NIV translation uses “cheerful” and the King James Version says “merry” … but when I pulled out the NASB, I read “JOY” — and my first thought was: Bingo. That’s it!
A joyful heart is indeed good medicine. But how to get it? Where does it come from? For the prescription, we flip over to the New Testament book of Galatians and scan down to Chapter 5, verse 22:
…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…
When listing the nine characteristics of the fruit produced by the Spirit, second on the list is JOY. We cannot manufacture joy on our own. Joy is a product of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Circumstances might make us happy, but only Jesus can give us joy. And the mature believer comes to realize that it is possible to be simultaneously unhappy and joyful.
We look around and may indeed feel crushed, but we look up and find joy. It does not mean our circumstances have changed … but it does mean that God can change us in the midst of those circumstances.
Now that’s good medicine!
If you missed this week’s teaching lecture from the Romans Bible study, I invite you to take a few moments out of your Sunday to watch today:
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have faithfully read, watched, encouraged, and supported Cross My Heart Ministry (and me personally) in the call to encourage women to love God and love His Word this past year. Without you, this ministry would not be possible, and I am profoundly grateful for each of you.
