What Brings Joy to the Heart of Man (Prov. 27:7-10)

What Brings Joy to the Heart of Man

[Proverbs 27:7–10]

What is it that brings joy to your heart?

Ecclesiastes 6:6 says this:
“Even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity, do not all go to the same place?” (Modern Korean Bible).
What do you think about this verse? Even if we lived for hundreds or thousands of years on this earth, what good would it be if we could not experience joy in our hearts?

That’s why the book of Ecclesiastes tells us that what brings joy to a person’s heart is to eat, drink, and enjoy the fruit of one’s labor (Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:13; 8:15). The Bible says this is a gift from God (3:13), and that it is good and beautiful (5:18). When we are able to receive and enjoy this gift, we must do so humbly. And we should find contentment (5:18), because a time may come when we are no longer able to enjoy it.

Also, starting in Proverbs 14:11, we have already received seven teachings about when our hearts can be joyful:

When our household prospers, there is joy in our hearts (14:11).
When we live with integrity, there is joy in our hearts (14:14).
When we trust only in the Lord and walk according to His will, there is joy in our hearts (14:15).
When we fear God and turn away from evil, there is joy in our hearts (14:16).
When we overcome evil with good, there is joy in our hearts (14:19).
When we love our neighbors, there is joy in our hearts (14:21).
When we work diligently, there is joy in our hearts (14:23).

In today’s main text, Proverbs 27:9, the writer of Proverbs says:
“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.”
Here it says, “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart of man.”
So I chose the title “What Brings Joy to the Heart of Man,” and based on Proverbs 27:7–10, I want to reflect on four things that bring joy to the heart and receive the lessons God gives through them.

First, what brings joy to the heart of man is wisdom.

Look at Proverbs 27:7:
“One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet” (Modern Korean Bible).

One of the essential joys in life is the joy of eating. Especially when we are hungry, eating something delicious that we like lifts our mood and brings us joy.

I read an article online that said, “When your mouth is happy, your mood is good and your brain is happy too.”
But as we all know, no matter how good something is, too much of it is bad for our health. Overeating causes obesity, harms our bodies, and leads to various illnesses. For this reason, more and more people are practicing moderation in eating to protect their health.

In Proverbs 27:7, we see a comparison between “the full” and “the hungry.”
The writer contrasts these two types of people and says that the full person rejects even honey, but to the hungry, even bitter food tastes sweet.

We’ve likely experienced this ourselves: when we’re full, even our favorite foods can become unappetizing. But when we’re extremely hungry, we may even eat foods we normally dislike.

This made me think—what is the joy of the full, and what is the joy of the hungry? I couldn't clearly identify the joy of the full, but it was obvious that the joy of the hungry is to be filled with food. Don’t you think so too? Haven’t you experienced the joy of being filled when you were hungry?

Dr. Park Yoon-sun interpreted the “full” person in Proverbs 27:7 as representing the proud, and the “hungry” person as representing the humble. He explained that the proud reject God’s Word, which is like honey, while the humble accept even bitter things—suffering—as sweet.
It’s an interesting interpretation. If it's correct, we can say that what brings joy to the heart of man is a humble heart that loves God’s Word and accepts even suffering with joy.

However, I interpret Proverbs 27:7 somewhat differently. I believe the main point is not about being full but about being hungry. In other words, the writer of Proverbs is focusing not on the full person who dislikes honey, but on the hungry person who finds even bitter things sweet.

And I began to imagine: if someone hungry finds even bitter things sweet, how much more joyful would they be if they were given real honey?
Then I thought, when the hungry are satisfied with sweet honey instead of bitter food, how great their joy would be.

The lesson here is that we must long for honey like the hungry—and when we are filled with that honey, we can experience true joy in our hearts.

So then, what is the “honey” that we must long for and be filled with?

To answer that, I revisited what we had already meditated on in Proverbs 24:13–14:
“My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you...” (Modern Korean Bible).

In this passage, the writer urges us to eat honey because it is good—especially honey from the comb, which he says is even sweeter. The key message here is about wisdom.

In other words, just as the honeycomb is sweet, wisdom is sweet to the soul, and we are encouraged to seek it.

This is why Proverbs 4:5–7 says:
“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme—therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

So the lesson we should take is this: we must long for God’s wisdom like a hungry person longs for honeycomb, and we must obtain that wisdom.

We must be willing to sacrifice anything to gain wisdom (understanding)—that’s how important it is.

To do this, we must first love wisdom. And with that love, we must consume God’s Word like honey.
That is, we must long for the pure Word of God (Proverbs 30:5), keeping it close throughout our lives, reading it, and meditating on it day and night.

By doing so, I pray that both you and I may gain wisdom and become people whose hearts are filled with joy.

Second, what brings joy to the human heart is having a home to return to.

This happened during our recent English ministry joint retreat at a cabin in Big Bear.
On the last morning, before breakfast, I stepped outside and sat quietly in a chair, gazing at the mountains and trees.
While I sat there alone in silence, I saw a couple of birds flying around and landing on a tree. At that moment, this Scripture came to mind:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
— Matthew 10:29–31

As I reflected on this, I thought, “If God feeds and cares for those birds, how much more will He care for me?”
This reminded me that I must trust and rely on God all the more.

Let’s look at Proverbs 27:8, today’s passage:

“Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.”

What comes to your mind when you hear “a bird that strays from its nest”?
I think of a migratory bird. And when I think of birds that migrate from one habitat to another with the seasons, I also recall a phrase I once saw in a newspaper or online: “migratory Christians.”

This term refers to people who do not have a home church and hop from one church to another.
When I see people like that, I feel both concern and sorrow.
I also believe that having a church that feels like home is a great blessing.

Especially when that church is a spiritual family in the Lord, filled with love, unity, and peace—being part of such a church is truly a grace and blessing from God.

Why does the writer of Proverbs mention “a bird that strays from its nest” in Proverbs 27:8?
Because he is likening it to a person who wanders far from home.
In other words, “a person who strays from his home is like a bird that wanders from its nest.”

Who comes to mind in the Bible when you think of “someone who has wandered far from home”?
For me, it’s Joseph in the book of Genesis.

When Joseph was 17 years old, he was hated by his brothers and nearly killed, but was instead sold and forcibly taken from his homeland of Canaan to Egypt.
It wasn’t until he was about 39 years old that he was finally reunited with his beloved father Jacob, his brother Benjamin, and the rest of his family, living with them in Egypt.

However, Joseph never returned to his homeland, Canaan, and died in Egypt.
From a human perspective, one might feel that Joseph had a tragic life—he died in a foreign land without ever returning home.

Thinking of Joseph reminds me of elderly Koreans today who were born in North Korea but now live in South Korea, the United States, or elsewhere.
We often refer to them as “displaced persons.”

Here’s a definition I found online:

“Displaced persons are those who have left their homeland and are no longer able to return freely. This includes refugees.”

I read an article from JoongAng Ilbo dated September 14, 2016, during the Chuseok holiday.
The title was: “5,000 Displaced Persons Paint ‘My Longed-for Hometown’... Mural Completed at Odusan Observatory with Views of North Korea.”

The article said that 5,000 displaced people—along with separated families and North Korean defectors—painted scenes of their hometowns in the North. These 5,000 paintings were then compiled into a large mural at the Unification Observatory in Paju, South Korea.

It made me wonder, “How deeply must they long for home to do something like that?”

Dear brothers and sisters, if we believe in Jesus, where is our true home?

Let us turn to Hebrews 11:15–16:

“If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
(NIV)

Or as the Korean Revised Version puts it:

“If they had been thinking of the home they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. But they longed for a better home, one that is in heaven. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, and He has prepared a city for them.”

We are those who have left our old home and now journey toward a new home in heaven.
This world is no longer our home. Our true home is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore, we can sing with joy and gladness the hymn, “Behold, Our Joyful Home” (New Hymnal #235):

Behold, our joyful home above,
Bright and holy heaven,
Where God’s holy people dwell
Forever in glory.
Our friends who went ahead
Have reached that bright home,
Singing praise unceasing
Before the throne of the Lord.
The Lord who saved us
Dwells in that holy home.
When we leave this world,
We’ll live with Him forever.
When our life on earth is done,
In that joyful eternal place,
We’ll live with our holy Father
In gladness and delight.

[Chorus]
There, oh there, in that joyful and happy home,
There, oh there, we’ll live in glory forevermore.

Just like that, we have an eternal home in the Lord to return to.
There, we will live forever in joy and glory.
This eternal and certain hope fills our hearts with gladness.

Though we now live in a sorrowful and sinful world, we can rejoice because we have a heavenly home waiting for us.

As we long for that better homeland and press on toward the higher calling,
I pray that the eternal hope we have in Christ will fill your heart and mine with joy and gladness.

Thirdly, what brings joy to a person’s heart is the faithful counsel of a friend.

Do you have friends around you who bring joy to your heart?
Friends with whom you laugh, enjoy time together, and who bring not only joy to your heart but also smiles and laughter to your face?
Or, do you perhaps have people around you who, rather than uplifting you, burden your heart and even make you feel miserable?

Not long ago, while reading the book "How to Read Job" by John H. Walton and Tremper Longman III, I found myself reflecting once again on Job’s friends.
I ended up writing the following thoughts:

“Job’s friends insisted that the reason he was suffering was because he had sinned against God.
From Job’s perspective, his friends were ‘miserable comforters’ (Job 16:2).
Having such comforters nearby can make our hearts even more distressed.”

What do you think?
Do you perhaps have friends around you like Job’s, who make you feel even more miserable?
Have you ever had someone come to “comfort” you in difficult and painful times, only for their words to actually make things harder and weigh more heavily on your heart?

Look at today’s main verse, Proverbs 27:9:

“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”
(ESV)
Or in a modern translation:
“Just as oil and perfume bring joy to the heart, so does a friend’s sincere advice.”

The phrase “so does” refers to the first part of the verse—“oil and perfume bring joy to the heart.”
In other words, a friend’s faithful counsel is as beautiful as oil and perfume that gladden the heart.

The phrase “faithful counsel of a friend” in Hebrew can also be understood as “counsel of the soul.”
Regarding this, Dr. Yoon-Sun Park writes:

“The counsel of a true friend is not just in words, but a loving exhortation that comes from the soul, deeply and sincerely.”

Do you have a friend who loves you enough to counsel you from the soul with such earnestness?

There is a Christian website I often visit.
Whenever I find an article that catches my attention, I read it and, if it’s good, I share it on the Facebook page of our church’s English ministry.
One article I recently shared was titled “True Friendship.”
The key Bible verse for that article was Proverbs 27:6:

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
(ESV)
Or in modern language:
“A friend may hurt you with honesty, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Based on this verse, the author encouraged readers to pray that God would send them friends like Jesus, our true friend, and listed five things about such a friend:

Pray for friends who love you enough to wound you.
Pray for friends who build you up.
Give thanks for friends who love you so much that they’re willing to hurt you for your good.
Welcome the wounds of others as well.
Be the kind of friend who is willing to wound in love.

Dear friends, if you and I have such a friend, what a tremendous blessing that is!
Yes, we should pray for such friends, but even more importantly, let us first pray that we may become that kind of friend to others.

And let us train our hearts to humbly receive the loving counsel of Jesus, our Friend.
Even if that counsel wounds us at first, let us receive His loving correction with humility.
And I pray that both you and I would take joy in humbly accepting the Lord’s loving counsel—even when it hurts.

Fourth and finally, what brings joy to the heart is a faithful and nearby neighbor.

Dear friends, do you have a neighbor with whom you are close?
If you have a neighbor whom you see more often and are more familiar with than your own brother or sister, that is something to be thankful for.
And especially if that neighbor treats you faithfully, then you should be even more thankful.
A faithful neighbor is better than a brother or sister who is unreliable and ignores you when you are going through difficult times.

Let us look at today’s passage, Proverbs 27:10:

“Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend,
and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity;
better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.”
(Modern translation: “Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and when you face hardship, do not go to your brother’s house. A neighbor nearby is better than a brother far away.”)

Here, “your friend and your father’s friend” means “your friend, that is, one who acted faithfully toward your father” (Dr. Yoon-Sun Park).
In other words, someone who has been recognized as faithful since your father's time should be honored by you as a son, and you must not cast them aside.

Among your parents’ friends, isn’t there someone whom even you recognize as having been faithful since your parents’ generation?
If so, just being able to know and associate with such a faithful friend of your father is something to be grateful for.
Especially if your parents have passed away and that faithful friend is still alive, it would be good to stay close to them and treat them as you would treat your own parents.
In this way, as children, we should honor those who were recognized as faithful since our father's time and never discard them.

In this context, the writer of Proverbs gives us the following instruction in the middle part of Proverbs 27:10:

“...do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your disaster...”
(Modern translation: “When you are in trouble, do not go to your brother’s house.”)

Why not?
Reflecting on verses 9 and the first part of 10, I believe it’s because our brother not only does not love our (soul), but also does not treat us faithfully (v.9 and v.10a).
Can you imagine this?

If you were going through a hard time, why would you not go to your brother for help?
If in your heart you believed: “My brother loves me and has always been faithful to me, so if I ask for help, he will definitely help me,” then of course you would go to him in your time of need.
However, if in your heart you felt: “My brother doesn’t love me and has been unfaithful to me, so even if I ask for help in my hardship, he won’t help me,” then you wouldn’t go to him.
Would you?

A clearer answer is found in the latter part of verse 10:

“Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.”

That is, the reason the Bible tells us not to go to our brother’s house in times of trouble is because that brother is a “brother who is far away.”
If in reality, our relationship with our brother is not close but rather distant, would we think of him and go to his house for help when we're struggling?
Of course, if we were truly desperate and had no other choice, we might reluctantly go to him—but would he actually help us?
More likely, the relationship might become even more strained.

I believe the reason our relationship with our brother has become distant is, as mentioned in verses 9 and 10a, because he neither loves our (soul) nor treats us faithfully.
In other words, for the relationship between brothers to become close, there must be love and faithfulness in that relationship.
Without such love and faithfulness, the relationship will naturally grow distant, and to such a distant brother, the Bible says not to turn in times of hardship (v.10).
Rather, the Bible says:

“A neighbor nearby is better than a brother far away” (v.10).

This means that a relationship with a nearby neighbor filled with love and faithfulness is better than a relationship with a distant brother who lacks these qualities.

What about you?
Do you have a neighbor like this—one who is nearby, loving, and faithful?
If so, your heart will surely be joyful.

In closing this meditation:

In a world filled with sorrow, I hope that we may live enjoying the joy that God places in our hearts.
May we, both you and I, rejoice in the joy that comes from God's wisdom, from heaven, from the faithful counsel of a loyal friend, and from the presence of a faithful nearby neighbor.