This Day in History: 0000-02-17

February 17 – Proverbs 17:22, 13:12, & Psalms 147:11

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

Hope deferred makes a heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

The Lord delights in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.

How’s your heart today? Is it cheerful?  I hope so! But if it’s not; if instead it is broken, dear friend, there is hope in the Lord.

No matter the condition of our spirits today, I am sure we’ve all had days on which we were blessed with a cheerful heart.  Doesn’t the Proverb state it so well when it says it is good medicine?  When our circumstances seem to be right, and it feels like our dreams are being fulfilled, the world feels so full of life! We see beauty everywhere we look, there is delight in the simple things, and possibility lies around every corner.

On the other hand, a broken spirit sucks the life out of our whole being! When our hopes seem out of reach, the heart sickness often permeates our very existence.  The world seems bleak and unexciting, there is drudgery even in what once excited us, we feel overwhelmed and completely helpless.

Don’t misunderstand what I am about to say, I know that circumstances often make this truth feel false, but I know firsthand that it is no lie. If a cheerful heart is what we long for, we must place our hope in the unfailing love of our Lord, and nothing else. Because all else will disappoint.  I know what it is to long for the love of another, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We should desire the love of our husbands, children, parents, friends, etc…  But if that is where we’ve placed our hope, we are going to be left heart-sick every time!  In contrast, when our hope is in the love of Christ, we have the pleasure of knowing that the God of the universe delights in us, His precious children.  That knowledge, when it sinks down deep into our souls, will fill us with the best medicine there is: a cheerful heart!