Proverbs 12:25

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

The saddening and the succouring

I. The saddening in life. There is a soul-crushing sadness here.

1. Personal affliction that maketh the heart stoop.

2. Social affliction that maketh the heart stoop.

II. The succouring in life. “A good word maketh it glad.”

1. What are good words?

(1) True words;

(2) kind words;

(3) suitable words.

2. Where are good words? The gospel is that word. Words about providence, about pardon, about resurrection. Words to comfort us in all our tribulations. (Urijah R. Thomas.)

The sin of brooding

There is a necessity that we should be in heaviness through manifold temptations; but we must beware lest by giving free scope to anxious and melancholy thoughts, our hearts should sink in us like a stone, and our souls become altogether unfit to relish the comforts or perform the services of life. Sadness of the countenance makes the heart better, but despondency of heart disqualifies men for thanking and praising God, for serving their generation, and for hearing the burdens of life. Life itself becomes burdensome, and is often shortened, by excessive grief. There is nothing that claims our grief so much as sin, and yet there may be an excess of sorrow for sin which exposes men to the devil, and drives them into his arms. Are you grieved in your minds? Remember that it is sinful and dangerous to brood perpetually over your sorrows. (G. Lawson.)

A cheering word

The celebrated Dr. R. W. Dale, of Birmingham, used to be fond of relating how he was cheered once by a poor woman’s earnest words. He was feeling dejected and as if all his strength was gone, when, passing through a street in Birmingham, he met a decently dressed stranger, laden with parcels, who stopped and said, “God bless you, Dr. Dale!” Her face was unknown to him, and he answered, “Thank you. What is your name?” “Never mind my name,” was the response; “but if you only knew how you have made me feel hundreds of times, and what a happy home you have given me! God bless you!” Then she was lost in the crowd, but she had encouraged a man whose books are in every library, and whose name is dear to the universal Church. (Sunday Companion.)