“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” ~ Proverbs 15:13, NKJV
It's true that “attitude determines outlook” (Warren Wiersbe) and that believers are to “rejoice always,” knowing what the Lord has done for us, but this proverb is not one of those impotent platitudes that insist you “cheer up” but do not give you any means of doing so. Rather, Solomon is expressing a truth regarding the human state, and implicitly pointing to the goodness and power of God. Out of the heart spring all the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23), so if one's heart is merry, so is one's countenance and the rest of one's self. Likewise, if one's heart is sorrowful, that sorrow will inevitably affect the whole of your being. It may even go so far as to break your spirit, crushing your soul and sapping the very life from your body. In such a state you cannot “cheer up” - not alone. Just as the power of God can revive a desperately wicked heart that is dead in trespasses and sins, so the power and grace of God can heal a broken spirit and restore life to a dying soul. Believers do sorrow - Jesus Himself, knowing He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, still wept over His friend's death - but they do not sorrow as those who have no hope. Our spirits are sustained by God's own Spirit, a powerful, unfailing current of certain hope and everlasting joy that runs beneath the sorrow and pain of our hearts. We do indeed “rejoice always,” because all reason for despair has been taken away from us forever. And a day is coming when my God shall wipe every tear from my eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. The curse will be gone and the former things will have passed away. All things will be made new. Whatever my sorrows may be in this life, I know this - they will only last the night. Joy is coming in the morning!
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