Feel-Good Medicine

A merry heart doeth good like

a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

I remember the first time I took medicine that our doctor gave to my mother. I was really a little kid at the time. I had a sore throat and he put the small pills in a little white envelope. Dr. Harsha had a huge glass front cabinet with all sorts of bottles in it. Some bottles had pills in them and some had liquid in them. He told me to take the pills one at a time when my mother knew to give them to me. I had never swallowed a pill before. I think we ruined one in the teaching/learning process. My grandmother finally suggested to my mother to put the small white tablet in a spoon full of jelly. I ate most of the jelly and was left with a pill in my mouth, but the jelly thing finally worked.

Through the years, we've all taken medications at one time or another and we know the importance medications are to physical health. The verse above gives us a different kind of medicine though that we might never have heard of... that's the medicine of a merry heart. It isn't clear in this verse, but I believe a merry heart can have two sources. The first source would be someone we come in contact with who has a merry heart and their merriment is contagious. This is the person who can quickly cheer one up who is not well. She has a good heart which aids in her being an encourager. Whether physically ill or just down in the dumps, this is a person who can seem to make you feel better just by being around her.

I have also been around ladies who have gone through the toughest of situations. I'm thinking of a couple of friends with terminal cancer who had the merriest of hearts. Just being around them even in their final days, I saw them with a sincere smile and were still quick with little humorous quips that could cheer a visitor. I've had friends who have gone through some of the toughest situations life has to offer but who keep a cheerful and merry spirit. For them, it isn't pretense or acting...it's just who they are. These Christian friends of mine have found their joy not in the prognosis of a doctor, in medications or in the support of caregivers. They have found their merriment in their faith in Jesus Christ.

The other source of a merry heart is that heart that is within us. Jesus is the source of our personal joy and merriment. We should remember that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” We won't always have encouraging people around us. The greatest encouragement is from our Lord.

Please note that the verse says that a merry heart is LIKE a medicine. It doesn't say that a merry heart is THE medicine but that it can have a similar effect as a dose of medication given by a doctor.

The broken spirit spoken of is another thing. One thing we don't consider when ill whether physical or emotional is that our bones can be drastically affected. When anyone goes a long period of time with a broken spirit there are at least three things that can be affected:

• nerves in the body are weakened
• bone marrow tends to dry, and
• the human skeleton can be weakened
  

The adult body has 206 bones. They form the frame of the body as well as protecting the organs of the body. One of the most important jobs of the bones is to make blood...our red and white blood cells that are created in the marrow of our bones. White blood cells fight infections. White cells is where platelets are made that causes our blood to clot...a most important function. Red ones are made mostly in the flat bones of the body. The red cells carry oxygen through blood vessels and removes waste.

There's more that could be said about the bones but they don't just hold us up. They play a vital role in the chemical functions of the body.

Now, back to our verse. It states that a broken spirit dries the bones. When we are depressed, in the “pit” of life, hurt and all of those other things that cause us great distress, a broken spirit can result and the overall health of our bodies is being affected.

“But you don't know how bad my situation is,” you might say. No I don't, but God does and He is the only One who can mend a broken spirit. Anything we try to do to mend a broken spirit in ourselves is only a temporary fix, a band-aid on the wound. The answer lies in our reliance on our Lord, the healer of broken spirits and broken hearts.

There are two things at play in our verse that keep us healthy in mind and body...a merry, rejoicing, happy spirit that could cancel out the broken spirit. I know this all sounds too simple and I don't mean for it to sound like that. This is a heavy thing to tackle in our own spirits and body but God Himself knows us well. “For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14 He can empower us to be over comers and victorious in the worst of our days. He has provided for our being healthy in every way. He knows the importance of our being spiritually healthy that will contribute to our physical health as well.

Know ye that the LORD, He is God: it is He

that hath made us, and not we ourselves...

Psalm 100: 3

Have you noticed as I have how much we are reliant on our God for absolutely everything that even includes every breath we breathe, tear we shed, or beat of our hearts; and He is interested in it all. He is to be praised for all He does for and in us. Come to think of it, that process of praise will do much in bringing about more of a merry heart within us than we can imagine. May it be so.

Dear Father, You are so wise and all-knowing. If we would follow the principles of Your Word, we would be so much better off, and thus be happier and merrier of spirit. Heal our brokenness as only You can. We love you......Amen.