Affliction or a Merry Heart?

No one likes affliction. And yet, no one can escape it this side of heaven. Proverbs 15 gives us an interesting contrast between one who has a “merry heart” and one who is afflicted. Here’s the passage:

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”(vv.13-15)

It seems to me that what is being contrasted is not so much affliction vs. a happy life in the sense of circumstances, but rather the heart attitudes of the two types of people.

The word translated “merry” means blithe or gleeful, joyful, or rejoicing. The word brings to my mind a little girl at a birthday party, bouncing around from one relative to another, happy and confident because she knows she is loved by all there.

You and I can go through life similarly happy and confident because of the certain, unchanging, unchangeable love of our Heavenly Father. No matter what is happening in our lives, we have the privilege of being able to run to our Father with our cares, to let Him carry the burden of them for us as we trust Him to do what is best.

But so often, we are as the afflicted in our passage. The Hebrew word used here means depressed, poor, or needy. It gives me the picture of someone to whom every circumstance of every day seems to hold yet another dark cloud of gloom.

As Christians, we are not immune to emotional lows—in fact, it is often our most troubled times when we draw the closest to God. But that is only if we are willing to go to God. Our emotions can either drive us to God, or keep us away from Him. Which they do depends on what we choose to make our focus.

If we choose to cling to the true things—God’s love, wisdom, omnipotence, goodness just to name a few—despite how we feel at the moment, we will grow closer to the Lord. We will take our emotions to Him and seek His help in dealing with our despondency. Then, the light of His truth can dispel our emotional darkness as we yield ourselves to Him in trusting dependence.

But if we let our feelings rule us, the gloomy shadow cast over our lives shuts out the hope—and yes, joy—that God has in store for us as a result of whatever difficulties and distresses we are going through.

The way out of the attitude of the afflicted is to run to God, cling to His truth, and choose to believe Him no matter how we feel. If we allow our emotional lows to blot out the light of Christ, all our days will seem “evil,” as the psalmist said.

Dear Reader, which one are you today? Is your heart merry with the joy of the Lord, happy and confident in His love for you, or are you wallowing in gloom and despair? In either case, we all need the same thing: to run to Christ, either in grateful delight for His love and goodness, or in desperate need of His light to dispel our darkness.

Run to Him today!

“The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.”

Nahum 1:7