Proverbs 12:25

New International Version (NIV)

Anxiety weighs down the heart,
    but a kind word cheers it up.

For Meditation

I remember that day clearly. The telephone rang. I was in the kitchen. I knew it was the expected call, yet I hesitated to run for the receiver in the living room. The sound of it grew louder and overpowered my restraint. It was the news I expected from faraway Tennessee in the United States of America.

It’s a boy! My wife said.

Anxiety gave way to joy as tears flowed with its warmth to my soul.

I am a grandfather at last!

Moments of anxiety come in diverse ways and intensity, but the effect is always the same, no matter how we process or express them. It weighs the heart down, as Solomon says in Proverbs 12:25. But, praise God, that a kind word cheers it up (25b). No matter the heaviness of our situation, there is a kind word from God to cheer our hearts in Christ Jesus.

What should we do when anxiety sets in? When the enemy bares his teeth through the angry storm, and the waves grow stronger than we can navigate, when the world tightens its grip on our comforts, and the flesh grows weak under its powerful desires, where do we turn for strength and support?

David turned inwardly to question his soul in one of his anxious moments—either during his flight from the insurrection of his son Absalom or in one of his lonesome moments avoiding Saul’s dragnet.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me (Psalm 42:5)?

David interrogated his soul that way because he knew his God and His eternal promise spoken to His servant Joshua, I will never leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5). Isn’t it sweet? Do you see why David comforted his soul with these words?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

Where else can we turn to in our difficult moments? To whom can we reach out when circumstances overwhelm us? We only have our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13) to turn and embrace. He is our Great High Priest who has suffered through it all, come out unscathed, and is now glorified (Heb. 4:15).

We take His invitation, therefore, to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need (16). When we are downcast and heavily laden, we turn to Him as our Burden-bearer, and He will give us rest (Matt. 11:28). Our hope can find rest only in Him and praise Him who alone is our Savior and God (Psalm 42:5b).

I pray this kind word from the Lord will lift your spirit up in Christ Jesus (Prov. 12:25b), and get you out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire (Psalm 40:2).

Prayer

Father, please set my feet upon a rock and give me a firm place to stand. Please put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to my God; that the world may know that we serve a living God who is active in the life of His children. Amen.

It is well, my friend, for weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Shalom