Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

Today we look at a verse which should be very familiar! It’s not the exact verse that we’ve covered very recently, but it is close to it. When we covered Proverbs 15:13, we focused on how the sacrifices of God are indeed a broken and contrite heart and spirit, “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” Today, we are reminded of how a broken spirit, “dries” the bones. When we are broken-hearted, broken-spirited, we are down and indeed it feels as though our bones are dried, and easily broken and we are basically just destroyed. That is why often, in the Word of God, when repentance is made, a person asks God to heal the bones that were broken, or dried, or cast down. In Proverbs 15:13 we focused mostly on having that broken and contrite heart and spirit. Today, let us focus on the healing that comes from God after we have come to Him with a broken and contrite heart and spirit.

It’s good at times to be sorrowful, especially when it comes to our sins that we have committed. When we are sorrowful because of our sins, it is a godly sorrow that brings us to repentance of our sins. That is what our Lord wants from us, the broken and contrite heart and spirit that is sorry for sins committed. And there are also times, and TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, that guilt for past sins is good for us as well. Those times that guilt for past, forgiven sins is good for us, is to the extent that we are reminded of how we once were in the pit, yet God brought us out. Not that we are to feel down and out about our forgiven sins, but that we are not brought to pride, thinking that we are something mighty, when we are only where we are, by the grace of God alone! It is also good at times, to prevent us from going back and committing those sins we have done in the past. The Lord reminded Israel of their past sins, because they had a bad habit of, once being forgiven by God, becoming lifted up in their own eyes, thinking themselves to be something in their beauty. The same therefore can be good for us . . . We shouldn’t remember our sins so that we can feel a true sense of “guilt” for them. We’ve been forgiven of them! Instead, we should remember them sometimes, to remind us of how much Grace our Lord has given us, to forgive us and wash us clean from the filth we once wallowed in all our lives! Also let us remember never to repeat such sinful actions after we’ve been forgiven and separated from them! Don’t let your sins which have been forgiven of you, keep you down and feeling guilty. Yet let them teach you to not return unto them, and let them remind us of the wondrous love our Lord God and Father has given us!

Even though it’s good (again—to a certain extent) to have such sorrow for our sins, if we’ve already been forgiven, our Lord doesn’t want us to walk around with such a burden of guilt and sin for any amount of time after we’ve been washed of our sins! Our Lord tells us “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12-13) If we stay down, and “broken,” then our enemy can use it to turn us away from our Lord, and cause us to stumble off the path we are to walk! This is why our Lord, when He rebukes us, He also comforts us nearly immediately after. He tells us, “You’ve done so many things that are wrong, Stop doing them! Remember, I love you, so I chasten you as my child. Return to Me so I can hold you in My arms again.” Good reminders are the letters to the churches in Revelation. He has rebuke for all of them except Philadelphia. Yet He also encourages them. He lifts them out of the dust, and heals that which He “broke.”

Our Lord breaks us, but then heals us. Yes, He wants the sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart, but He also wants to see us joyous and having abundant life! His Rebuke is for but a short while. He wants to restore unto us the Joy of His Salvation. His Joy, is our Strength! As said in verses which we often look at, and should have in our memory: Hosea 6:1 “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”

Once we have been broken, coming to the Lord to receive forgiveness and indeed we receive forgiveness in Christ Jesus our Lord, we should rejoice! As said in the first part of today’s verse, a Merry Heart does good like a MEDICINE! It does good, it will heal like a medicine heals. Rejoice! Don’t stay down and sorrowful, but let the Lord give us joy—HIS Joy! The Lord in John 16 tells His Disciples they will weep and lament, they will be sorrowful, but that after a while they will have such joy that none will take away (Speaking of His Death, and then Resurrection). In the same way, let us be sorrowful, for a MOMENT, but then after that MOMENT is over, let us Rejoice and have such a joy that no one can take away from us!

Oh praise God! The Lord has so greatly blessed us, let us smile each day, let us have a New Song in our hearts, a beat to our step, and let us be brimming over with the joy and love of our Lord so that all who see us will want what we have . . . and let us show them how to get what we have! Praise God Almighty! When we are down, sorrowful, and broken, then after we have offered such sacrifices to God our Father, to receive forgiveness in Christ Jesus, let us rejoice! If we find it hard, then sing Praises to our Lord, He gives us the garments of Praise, for the spirit of heaviness! Praise our Lord Most High!

I continue to pray for you, and truly do love and care for you with the Love our Lord has for us. May we sing aloud “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1) May we never forget that while sorrow can be good at times and to a certain extent, our Lord doesn’t want us to be forever sorrowful, but joyous! Satan wants to keep us down, but our Lord wants to raise us back up again! Praise God! May God Bless you magnificently in all you do, and I pray that you have a wonderful day in the Lord today!

Amen, Shell,

Thanks for such encouragement