Bright eyes gladden the heart; Good news puts fat on the bones. Proverbs 15:30

It is a good thing to be bright-eyed and fat-boned as a Christian.  Ok, there is a sentence you won't hear everyday.  Yet the fact is that today's proverb tells us that this is a good thing - and that the wise man will fully embrace it.  Therefore it would definitely be good to understand just what this proverb speaks about - so that we can be blessed in this way.

Bright-eyed . . . We hear of people who wake up each morning being "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed." This is an expression that refers to someone who wakes up and is truly awake.  The idea of being bushy-tailed refers to a squirrel who when his tail is bushy means that he is fully alert.  These are English expressions, but what we are dealing with here is a Hebraism.  It was an expression that meant something to a Jewish person - just like our sayings mean something to us.

This proverb is a "restated" proverb, meaning that each half restates the other.  Thus this brightening of the eyes - is similar to the good news that puts fat on the bones.  So we can know that the effect on the eyes here is from seeing good things.  What is fascinating though is looking at the word "bright" in the ways that it is used in other places in the Old Testament.  The overwhelming use of this word is in reference to the light of the seven-fold lap in the tabernacle of Moses.  The reason this is fascinating is because of the imagry that this picture.  The lamp was filled with holy oil - a picture of the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit.  The lamp was the only source of light in the Holy place.  It illuminted two things in that room.  There was the table of showbread - which is a type of God's Word.  There was also the altar of incense - which is a type for us of prayer and worship.  Now in light of these things, let's look at at this proverb again. 

What is the news that fattens our heart?  It is when we have the full measure of the illumining work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  When that is the case we have Him opening the Word to us.  We have Him opening our hearts to pray and to worship God.  This would definitely make our hearts glad.  This is the best news of all - God is worthy - God wants us to make our requests known to Him - God wants to speak to us through His Word! 

This also makes wonderful sense when we see what the Hebraism, "fat-bones" means.  This particular Hebraism means a sense of prosperity.  When someone has fat on their bones - they are prosperous and blessed.  It is good news that does this.  Indeed there is a sense that this proverb can simple mean having eyes that are brightened by seing good things and ears that hear good things - makes us glad and prosperous.  But there is also a deeper spiritual meaning that takes us to a different level.  When we hear and see the good news that the Scripture tells us about God - it brings joy to our heart and spiritual fatness to our bones. 

It is a wise thing when a man submits himself to the work of the Holy Spirit.  This will brighten his eyes and bring great gladness to his heart.  He will see the gospel, which indeed is good news.  He will see the truth of God which will put some serious fat on his bones.  He will find himself prospering greatly in the Lord - blessed with spiritual growth - and delghted in the goodness of God.  No doubt about it - it is a good thing to start your day with a quiet time where you seek the Lord - and submit yourself to the Spirit of God as a teacher and guide.  Doing that will truly make you a bright-eyed and fat-boned Christian!

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?  Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.  Proverbs 23:29-30

We are about to read one of the most amazing sections of Proverbs that there is.  These next seven verses are one of the most poignent commentaries on alcohol and drinking that there is in Scripture.  It is also one of the most plain statements against getting drunk.  I am not one who states that the Biblical view is complete abstinence from alcohol - simply because Scripture itself does not state that.  The Bible teaches us to steer clear from getting drunk.  It also warns against lingering long over wine - and I would also argue that the Bible militates against the whole "party culture" that exists in our society today.  My own personal stance is complete abstinence from alcohol.  The reason for this is because I've led at least two men to Christ who were alcoholics.  If I were to drink - and they were to follow my example - there is good reason to be concerned that they would be ruined by my abuse of my freedom in Christ.  Therefore, rather than make my brothers stumble, I will renounce my freedom to have anything to do with alcohol.

This passage though is about abuse of alcohol.  It asks a series of questions that are all rhetorical in nature.  They are this way because they have to do with the consequences of alcohol in someone's life who is abusing it.  Who has woe?  The answer is the alcohol abuser.  Woe means to have a horrific distress.  Take a close look at the drunkard and you will find plenty of woe and sorrow in his life.  There are so many ways that this happens - through broken relationships - through wasted lives - through the regret and horror of the aftermath of a drunken driving accident or arrest.  There is so much sorrow from the immediate consequences - as well as the long term ones that come out of drinking and drunkenness.  But too often men want to make it look as if these are rare consequences rather than the norm of alcohol abuse.

The next set of two questions here deal with the issue of contentions and complaining.  Unfortunately, before I came to Christ, I was often in parties where the abuse of alcohol was frequent.  I can tell you from experience that the contentions and complaining are very much true.  Guys would break out into fights and would have major altercations when they were drunk.  I remember one friend who not only had a fight, but was beaten bloody and shot before the night was over.  He survived, but the gunshot wound is still in his body to this day as a monument to his stupidity and drunken lack of sense.  The complaining usually comes from those who have to deal with the drunk.  Their wives complain of their actions.  Their children complain of their actions.  Their employer complains of their alcohol abuse.  They all feel the effects of the lack of self-control - and in some cases the anger that comes with a drunk stumbling into the home.  It is a sad but true fact that many men return home to beat their wives and children in their drunken state.  Their complaining is testimony to a man who has lost all self-control and who is slowly ruining his life.

The next couplet here has to do with questions about wounds and redness of eyes. The wounds come from stumbling around drunk - running into things and injuring oneself.  They may come from fights and their aftermath.  The redness of eyes comes in the morning when the drunk gets up and faces the difficulty of recovering from the previous evening's activities.  Not only is there redness of eyes - but there is also a pounding headache - and at times a stomach that is sick from the alcohol of the previous night. 

These things are all said of those who "linger long over wine."  This speaks of someone who drinks - and stays at a place where they serve them.  These are the men who stay at bars well into the night.  They may start at happy hour and not finish his drinking until after midnight.  The drunk may have 5 to 10 drinks as he pours out the problems he has with the bar tender.  He lingers long over a beer or a hard drink - and has another when he is done.  The passage here also says that there are those who go to taste "mixed wine."  Mixed wine refers to ways that men would mix wine with other things to make it better - and often to make it more intoxicating.  It would in some ways refer to the way that men mix drinks in bars today. 

We are going to get a pretty good picture of the drunk over the next several days.  We are going to see his actions as well as the consequences of them.  We are going to hear warnings against the things that he does.  We will hear warnings about alcohol and the way that it can lure someone into its trap.  We will hear about how alcohol promises one thing, yet delivers something quite different.  We will also see that when we give ourselves over to this habit and this abuse, we will find that it is a trap that shuts over us and does much to bring great destruction in our lives.  The wise man knows that wine and strong drink are deadly and deceptive.  That is why he stays away from them.

Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Proverbs 4:25

Godly fathers warn their sons about distractions.  It was a distraction that led to the fall of mankind.  It was when Satan got the man and the woman to look at the one thing they probably should not have set in their sights that they were distracted enough to make the mistake of not just look at it - but partake of the forbidden fruit.  In much the same way, our sons are being constantly given things to look at that are not wise for them to put in the path of their vision.  What we look at long enough - will so fill our vision that we want to partake of it.  That can get our sons in all kinds of trouble.

Dad speaks frankly with his sons, telling them to have their eyes look directly in front of them.  He says this again with greater intensity telling the boys to let their gaze be fixed straight in front of them.  This is important for sons because they are going to face a tremendous amount of visual stimulation from the world.  We are warned against a worldliness where we live for the lust of our eyes.  This warning should remind us as fathers that what our eyes see can stimulate very strong desires that cry out for fulfillment.

David had a vision of a beautiful woman bathing in front of his eyes one evening in Jerusalem.  He could have looked away, but rather than do this, David fixed his gaze upon Bathsheba.  Soon, looking was not enough for David - he had to have more.  That look led to a horrible set of problems, beginning with adultery, and ending with a devastating set of consequences for his entire family - indeed, for all of Israel. 

Oh, how we need to use such things to warn our sons against the sins of the eyes.  How we need to warn them to keep their vision fixed straight in front of them.  They need to have a vision that dominates their lives - and it needs to be one where they focus on Christ.  Paul told us that when we gaze at Him with unveiled faces that we will be transformed into the very image that is set before our eyes.  May we be diligent in encouraging our sons to have that vision be the Lord Jesus Christ!