Proverbs 15:15 "All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."
The Bible contains so many simple statements and verses that can substantially alter a person's life. This short proverb of but twenty words is one of those powerful statements that, if heeded, can dramatically improve a person's quality of life. It emphasizes the power of a person's character over the power of the conditions a person is subjected to. This proverb teaches the amazing truth that what's going on inside WITH us has more power over our lives than what is going on outside TO us. It is true that what happens in our soul has more influence in our lives than what happens to our body. Thank God for this spiritual fact because we rarely can control what happens to us but we can always control what happens in us. We can't prevent afflictions from without but we can prevent bitterness, ingratitude, hopelessness, anger and despair from within. Thank God for these twenty words!
By themselves, the first eight words are rather discouraging, especially for the person afflicted with illness, poverty or injustice. "All the days of the afflicted are evil" sounds brutal to anyone enduring or facing certain future affliction. If that's all this proverb said, I can't imagine anyone would benefit. What benefit could it bring? In fact, without the final fourteen words, the first part of the proverb would lose its real meaning and ultimately, it's power. By linking both statements, we can and we must conclude that Solomon is not declaring "all the days of the afflicted are evil." Instead, he is telling us that someone who is afflicted views all of their days as evil. We know this because he is contrasting the afflicted with the man or woman who has a merry heart. Being afflicted is outside of our control most of the time while having a merry heart is within our control all of the time. In the proverb, the difference between the two parties is not the conditions in which they're living - it's the character with which they're living. He's not comparing the sick to the healthy or the hungry to the full or the poor to the rich. He's not comparing the afflicted to the non-afflicted. He is comparing the person with a merry heart to the person without a merry heart.
When we are afflicted, we naturally see all our days as evil. When afflicted with the stomach bug, we naturally have a negative perspective of life. Where we once loved eating and drinking, once afflicted by the virus, we hate the thought of food. When afflicted by unemployment, we naturally think more poorly of our lives and struggle seeing the blessings we still enjoy. When the temperatures get real cold or the politics get real bad, that affliction changes our view of our lives in a negative direction. Misery so easily consumes our outlook on life when unwanted conditions afflict us. Being married to an unloving spouse so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Living with a chronic illness so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Never having enough money because of economic conditions so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Affliction alters and distorts our assessment of the past, present and future.
It is true that "evil days" find their way onto all of our calendars. Sickness, loss of loved ones, financial hardship, cruelty and injustice afflict us all at various points in our lives. It is extremely rare for anyone to be truly afflicted "ALL the days" of their life and yet that's the mindset of too many when afflicted for a few days. During marital conflict, a spouse can so easily view their entire marriage as evil. During financial hardship, a person can so easily view their entire adult life as evil. During times of physical pain, a person can so easily view their entire life as evil. Without intentionally possessing merriness in our heart, affliction brings misery and a significantly skewed perspective. That is the contrast and teaching of this proverb.
The person who is of a merry heart has a "continual feast," whether afflicted or not. Merriness in the heart prevents a poorly skewed perspective. It prevents ingratitude, inaccuracy and inconsistency in our outlook on life. By Noah Webster's definition, a merry heart is a heart full of delight. It finds things in which to delight no matter the conditions surrounding it. In times of loss, a merry heart easily finds delight in what or who it still has. In times of pain, a merry heart readily finds delight in what or who brings relief. In times of uncertainty, a merry heart happily finds delight in God and others who bring certainty. For these reasons, a merry heart always has something wholesome and pleasant to consume and feast on. The person who is of a merry heart never acts as though "all the days of his life are evil" because he is always looking at a table full of blessings.
Solomon is instructing his audience to focus on the character they can control in a world of unwanted conditions they can't control. A merry heart is NOT the CONSEQUENCE of ideal conditions - it is the RESPONSIBILITY of the soul. In Ecclesiastes 9:7, Solomon wrote, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine WITH A MERRY HEART; for God now accepteth thy works." Merriness in the heart is our responsibility and is a necessity if we are to combat the ingratitude and complaining that afflictions bring. In the same book (12:1), the same wise author wrote, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." Real "evil days" come to us all. Affliction comes to us all and when it does, we need to be prepared for it and its temptations by forming a proper perspective of God during the "good days." We need to delight in God all the days of our lives. We need to delight in His blessings, character and ways all the days of our lives so that when the "evil days" come, we’ll possess merry hearts and with those hearts, enjoy a continual feast of blessings and virtue.
None of us should want to finish our lives with the perspective that Jacob had in Egypt towards the end of his when he said, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been" (Gen. 47:9). Instead, at the end of our lives, whether afflicted or not afflicted, whether in Egypt or in the Promised Land, we can enjoy a continual feast of perceived blessings from God. It's up to us to either let the challenging conditions of life or merry character to form our perspective in life. We can let what we can't control strip us of seeing the blessings God has given us or we can let what we can control in possessing a merry heart open our eyes continually to those blessings. Perspective is best formed by character, not conditions.
By themselves, the first eight words are rather discouraging, especially for the person afflicted with illness, poverty or injustice. "All the days of the afflicted are evil" sounds brutal to anyone enduring or facing certain future affliction. If that's all this proverb said, I can't imagine anyone would benefit. What benefit could it bring? In fact, without the final fourteen words, the first part of the proverb would lose its real meaning and ultimately, it's power. By linking both statements, we can and we must conclude that Solomon is not declaring "all the days of the afflicted are evil." Instead, he is telling us that someone who is afflicted views all of their days as evil. We know this because he is contrasting the afflicted with the man or woman who has a merry heart. Being afflicted is outside of our control most of the time while having a merry heart is within our control all of the time. In the proverb, the difference between the two parties is not the conditions in which they're living - it's the character with which they're living. He's not comparing the sick to the healthy or the hungry to the full or the poor to the rich. He's not comparing the afflicted to the non-afflicted. He is comparing the person with a merry heart to the person without a merry heart.
When we are afflicted, we naturally see all our days as evil. When afflicted with the stomach bug, we naturally have a negative perspective of life. Where we once loved eating and drinking, once afflicted by the virus, we hate the thought of food. When afflicted by unemployment, we naturally think more poorly of our lives and struggle seeing the blessings we still enjoy. When the temperatures get real cold or the politics get real bad, that affliction changes our view of our lives in a negative direction. Misery so easily consumes our outlook on life when unwanted conditions afflict us. Being married to an unloving spouse so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Living with a chronic illness so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Never having enough money because of economic conditions so easily makes a person view "all the days of their life" as evil. Affliction alters and distorts our assessment of the past, present and future.
It is true that "evil days" find their way onto all of our calendars. Sickness, loss of loved ones, financial hardship, cruelty and injustice afflict us all at various points in our lives. It is extremely rare for anyone to be truly afflicted "ALL the days" of their life and yet that's the mindset of too many when afflicted for a few days. During marital conflict, a spouse can so easily view their entire marriage as evil. During financial hardship, a person can so easily view their entire adult life as evil. During times of physical pain, a person can so easily view their entire life as evil. Without intentionally possessing merriness in our heart, affliction brings misery and a significantly skewed perspective. That is the contrast and teaching of this proverb.
The person who is of a merry heart has a "continual feast," whether afflicted or not. Merriness in the heart prevents a poorly skewed perspective. It prevents ingratitude, inaccuracy and inconsistency in our outlook on life. By Noah Webster's definition, a merry heart is a heart full of delight. It finds things in which to delight no matter the conditions surrounding it. In times of loss, a merry heart easily finds delight in what or who it still has. In times of pain, a merry heart readily finds delight in what or who brings relief. In times of uncertainty, a merry heart happily finds delight in God and others who bring certainty. For these reasons, a merry heart always has something wholesome and pleasant to consume and feast on. The person who is of a merry heart never acts as though "all the days of his life are evil" because he is always looking at a table full of blessings.
Solomon is instructing his audience to focus on the character they can control in a world of unwanted conditions they can't control. A merry heart is NOT the CONSEQUENCE of ideal conditions - it is the RESPONSIBILITY of the soul. In Ecclesiastes 9:7, Solomon wrote, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine WITH A MERRY HEART; for God now accepteth thy works." Merriness in the heart is our responsibility and is a necessity if we are to combat the ingratitude and complaining that afflictions bring. In the same book (12:1), the same wise author wrote, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." Real "evil days" come to us all. Affliction comes to us all and when it does, we need to be prepared for it and its temptations by forming a proper perspective of God during the "good days." We need to delight in God all the days of our lives. We need to delight in His blessings, character and ways all the days of our lives so that when the "evil days" come, we’ll possess merry hearts and with those hearts, enjoy a continual feast of blessings and virtue.
None of us should want to finish our lives with the perspective that Jacob had in Egypt towards the end of his when he said, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been" (Gen. 47:9). Instead, at the end of our lives, whether afflicted or not afflicted, whether in Egypt or in the Promised Land, we can enjoy a continual feast of perceived blessings from God. It's up to us to either let the challenging conditions of life or merry character to form our perspective in life. We can let what we can't control strip us of seeing the blessings God has given us or we can let what we can control in possessing a merry heart open our eyes continually to those blessings. Perspective is best formed by character, not conditions.
Posted in Proverbs Commentary
Posted in Solomon, Outlook, Perspective, evil, Merry, happy, View, Afflicted, Affliction, Sickness, Disease, Illness, Chronic, poverty, Economy, Unemployed, marriage, Jacob, Ecclesiastes
Posted in Solomon, Outlook, Perspective, evil, Merry, happy, View, Afflicted, Affliction, Sickness, Disease, Illness, Chronic, poverty, Economy, Unemployed, marriage, Jacob, Ecclesiastes
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