A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

There is a healing effect when we are joyful, cheerful people. We read in today's proverb that a joyful heart is good medicine. The word used for "joyful" here is the Hebrew word "sameah" which means, 'to be glad, happy, or joyful.' The idea behind this word is that someone is choosing to rejoice - to consider the good that God has done, rather than the misery and the opportunity to be sad and depressed. That is why we are to seek to maintain a "joyful" heart.

The number of medical studies that reveal to us this principle is nothing short of amazing. Dr. Hans Seyle, former director of the University of Montreal's Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, discovered that when rats are subjected to cold, fatigue, frustration, noise, and other stressful conditions, they develop physical symptoms. Their blood pressure soars, their vital adrenal glands become grossly enlarged, their thymus and lymphatic glands shrink, and they develop peptic ulcers. Research done by the American Medical Association by a Dr Seyle showed that in animals emotional stress causes fats to be drawn from the body, dumped into the blood, and deposited along artery walls. The lethal results are atherosclerosis and coronary-artery disease. According to Dr. Seyle, hatred, frustration, and anxiety are the worst stresses. If you forcefully restrain a normally active rat, deadly frustration results. If you put a mouse and a cat in adjoining cages, the mouse will die of anxiety.

This kind of "broken spirit" will, according to the Lord, dry up the bones. This is a horrible condition because our bones are not only our main source of strength and stability, but they are also the place where our blood is produced. Without our bones we will surely die in short order. What is difficult though is that we cannot go up to someone who is dried up in their affections and tell them to be joyful. That does not help them. They know they are without joy - and can sense the drying up of their vitality. An admontion to stop this is like asking the sun to stop shining simply by requesting it. What they need is a supernatural infusion of joy - or even better an infusing of a joy producing principle that will not go away with the seasons or the up and down existance of being alive.

Where can we obtain joy? That is the million dollar question. Fortunately, we are instructed in where to find joy in the gospels. When Jesus was born the angels made an amazing statement. "But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11) Joy comes when we are brought into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The true source of a dried up spirit is that we are separated fom God by our sin. The weight of our guilt along with the prospect of judgment and separation from God for all eternity will bring great pain and sorrow.

Jesus, when He came on the scene publically, read the following passage from Isaiah to the people in Gallilee. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

For those afflicted with sorrow, sighing, sadness, and a broken spirit there is wonderful news. Jesus came to bring great joy. He came to give us the oil of joy poured upon our heads rather than a spirit of fainting. The cause of the broken spirit is our separation from God - and its remedy is turning to God through Jesus Christ. That is how we can have our sorrow turned to laughter and our gloom to everlasting joy.

Joy is not just laughter. Some use this verse to promote Christian comediens. But I will say that although I enjoy their humor greatly - they are not the source of bringing men from sorrow to joy. Solomon also wrote Ecclesastes 2 which says, "I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2) So just getting someone to laugh will not solve the cause of a broken heart. David said it best when in the midst of his confession of sin he said, "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation!" Joy comes from knowing God - knowing your sins are forgiven - knowing that you will stand in the judgment. When this aspect of our lives is not right - nothing will be.

The way to a joyful heart is by knowing God through Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and resurrected from the dead. It is by coming to God in repentance and faith and turning from a self-centered life to one centered in Him. God offers such a gift freely to us - therefore joy is truly available to men. The problem is that they turn to other things than Him and His gospel to obtain it.

Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Proverbs 23:31-32

As we continue our look at the dangers of alcohol abuse we are warned that wine will look good when we see it.  There is a certain asthetic beauty to a beautiful glass with wine in it.  We see its color and note that it sparkles in the cup.  The alcohol industry does everything that it can to enhance the look of their product.  Beer is sold to us with people pouring it into a glass where we watch the foam grow along with the beer itself in the glass.  Everything is done to make sure that we are enamoured with the sight of this drink.  Consider as well that every commercial that seeks to sell these things is filled with skinny people who all look amazingly good - and voila - they are all drinking what we are supposed to be buying as well.  The secret message to us is that we can look that good too if we drink their beer, wine, or whiskey.  But, the proverb warns us that there is a different experience awaiting us when we actually drink this stuff in abundance. 

We are told the truth here - that alcohol bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.  What we are being alerted to is the effect of the alcohol on our system as we become more and more inebriated with it.  We will find ourselves experiencing a type of poisoning of our system.  Just like a snake and a viper bite will affect our vision and our ability to speak and walk - so also does the imbibing of alcohol.  We will find ourselves strangely affected as this stuff hits our bloodstream and begins inhibiting our brain and physical functions.  I find it somewhat disingenuous that we hear over and over again that alcohol can actually enhance our health.  But what we are NOT told is how alcohol can poison our system and destroy our bodies.  The amount of alcoholic drink we can have to make us healthier (and this is not in every case) is rather small - a small glass of wine often being used as the example.  The problem is that in our party society we are not drinking for our health - we are drinking to party - to lower our inhibitions and help us do things we normally would not do.  But the problems come not just to our mental state - but there are damages that happen to our brain, our kidneys, and our liver when we poison ourselves with too much alcohol. 

As I've said earlier, I was a weekend drunk before I was saved.  That also means that I have had the unfortunate situation of not only being drunk - but also of having a hangover and of being very sick when I poisoned myself wth alcoholic drinks.  To describe what happens when you do this is difficult because it is hard for some to grasp what it might feel like to have multimple sledge hammers converging on the sides of your head while having a stomach ache and a feeling like you are going to throw up.  It is difficult to describe how someone's whisper can sound like someone shouting in your ears.  Yet these things are signs that you are poisoning yourself with the venom of alcohol abuse.  Oh, before I leave this aspect of our current proverb I would like to regale you with what it looks like when someone abuses alcohol for a lifetime.  They die of something called scirosis of the liver.

I was able to lead a man to Christ who had been a drunk his entire life.  He was in his late 40's but looked like he was around 70.  He came to Christ just as he was learning of his condition.  His alcohol abuse had effectively destroyed his liver, which was in the process of shutting down.  He told me to use his situation to warn others to stay away from alcohol and drunkenness.  His body began to turn yellow as it also swelled to about twice its normal size.  As his liver shut down he was blinded by the impurities that were in his blood.  They also began to kill all the other organs in his body.  It was not a pretty death that he died.  That was the lifetime effect of someone who literally drank themselves to death.

The Word of God is trying to warn us of the dangers of alcohol.  If we are wise we will approach alcoholic drinks in a similar way that we would approach drinking Draino or some other kind of known poison.  Just because alcohol will poison us slower than these things is no reason to treat it any less cautiously.  We live in a culture that glories in its alcohol abuse - and does not let us know the backside of this lifestyle.  I've always wanted to cut one commercial for a Super Bowl that would present alcohol truthfully.  It would involve people who are not pretty - drinking alone or even at a party.  We would watch as they drink themselves into a foolish stupor - but the commecial would continue to follow them as they began throwing up uncontrollably.  Then the commercial would end with them waking up the next morning as the sound track would distort with the sound of people talking to them - yet sounding like a bullhorn being used to deafen them.  The tag line on the commercial would be something like this, "People who tell you to drink promise a good time."  At this point the commercial would review the people throwing up uncontrollably and say, "Does this look like a good time?"  A quick shot of someone dying of liver disease in all its horror would come next with the final statement, "Yeah, good times."  That would at least begin to balance the scales just a little with wisdom when it comes to drinking alcoholic drinks and the truth.  Will it ever happen?  What do you think?

The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, But as for a broken spirit who can bear it? Proverbs 18:14

There are two kinds of sickness that can come upon us.  One is a sickness that we can endure and bear - but there is a second type mentioned in the Scripture that is impossible to bear without the work and grace of God being upon us.

We are told that the spirit of a man can endure his sickness.  This sickness mentioned here is the word used for various illnesses that come upon us due to the face that we live in a fallen world.  The entrance of sin into our world ruined it.  It also introduced sickness and death into our world as well.  But a man's spirit can help him endure his sickness.  I am about to share something that will cause some to react badly.  If we live in this world, we are going to face illness and sickness.  Because of the fall of man and the entrance of sin into our world - sickness also came into it as well.  What I mean by this is NOT that anyone who is sick must have sinned.  That is false doctrine.  But what I do mean is that when sin entered the human race - death did as well.  Now all things are running down - aging - and generally falling apart.  The second law of thermodynamics tells us that things are moving from order to disorder.  That is true in our very makeup itself.  Our cells are breaking down - our DNA is liable to mutation (which is never good) - and we will slowly fall apart until we physically die.  This is fact.  Those who think we can go through all of life simply confessing divine health - and therefore never having to be sick or adversely affected by the degeneration of our world or ourselves are sadly mistaken.  They to will die due to the sin of man.

Now, before I completely depress you, let me return to our proverb today.  Our spirit can help us endure sickness.  There is an inner strength that is granted to us in our spirit that helps us deal with the fact that we are human.  We will make it through sickness.  I've seen the extreme of this in believers who glorify God in the midst of terminal illnesses.  There is something so alive and strong in them - even in the midst of their last days.  They conquer death - even as they face it.  That is the power of God working in our spirits. 

But the Proverb does warn of a second sickness that is unbearable to the human condition.  "But as for a broken spirit who can bear it?"  The word for broken here is so telling.  It does not refer to what we experience at the end of a romance - the famous broken heart of romantic movies and novels.  This broken spirit is one that is stricken and scouraged.  It refers to more than just suffering.  It refers to when we come to see that everything we can live for in this life means nothing.  It is the brokenness that God actually seeks to bring us to in life.  It is a brokenness that cannot be cured with more stuff or more power.  It won't be solved by a new romance - or another boyfriend or girlfriend.  This brokenness goes to the very depths of our spirit.  It is God telling us that we cannot be self-repaired.  We need Him.  That is why the wise man poses the question, "Who can bear it?"  No one can - except he turn to God.  Only He can reach to the very core of our deadness and cause our spirit to come alive.  This work He does by the Spirit of God as He applies the gospel of Jesus Christ to our broken condition.  Then we find ourselves fixed - and actually far more than fixed.  We are reborn - and our spirit comes alive as the Holy Spirit grants us the very life of God. 

The wise man knows as he sees and endures the sicknesses of this present world that something is terribly wrong with this world.  The death that reigns over this present world points us to a much deeper death that reigns over our souls.  This brokenness of spirit can only be repaired by God.  He has given the cure in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And . . . a wise man knows to turn to God for His ultimate remedy for a broken spirit.