Things that bring joy to the heart
[Proverbs 27:7-10]
What brings joy to your heart? If you look at Ecclesiastes 6:6, the Bible says, “Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things--do not all go to one place?” What do you think of this word? What good would it be if we lived in this land for a hundred and ten thousand years and we could not enjoy joy in our hearts. That is why the Bible Ecclesiastes tells us that what brings joy to our hearts is to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his work (Eccl. 2:24, 3:13, 8:15). The Bible says that this is a gift from God (3:13) and that it is good and proper (5:18). When we can accept and enjoy this, we should enjoy it humbly. In doing so, we must enjoy satisfaction (v. 18). The reason is because there may be days when we will not necessarily enjoy it. Also, from Proverbs 14:1, we have already learned 7 things about when there is joy in our hearts: (1) There is joy in our hearts when our tent will flourish (14:11). (2) There is joy in our hearts when we live truthfully (v. 14). (3) There is joy in our hearts when we believe in only the Lord and do His will (v. 15). (4) There is joy in our hearts when we fear God and shun evil (v. 16). (5) There is joy in our hearts when we overcome evil with good (v. 19). (6) There is joy in our heart when we love our neighbors (v. 21). (7) There is joy in our hearts when we work hard (v. 23).
If we look at Proverbs 27:9, the Bible says “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.” Looking at this word, it is said that “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart.” Here, I set the title “Things that bring joy to the heart” and would like to receive a lesson from meditating on four things that bring joy to the heart based on Proverbs 27:7-10.
First, it is wisdom that brings joy to the heart.
Look at Proverbs 27:7 – “He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.” What we cannot miss out of the pleasure is the pleasure of eating. Especially when we are hungry, eating our favorite delicious food makes us feel good and enjoyable. When I read an article on the Internet, it says, ‘If you enjoy your mouth, you feel good and your brain is good.’ But, as we already know, no matter how good it is if we eat too much, it’s not good for our health. Overeating causes obesity, harms health and causes various diseases. So it is said that more and more people are eating less for their own health. If we look at Proverbs 27:7, there are “He who is full” and “the hungry”. The Proverbs writer contrasts these two types of people. He says that “He who is full” hates even honey, but the hungry man tastes even what is bitter sweet. In fact, when our stomachs are full as we are experiencing in life, don't we hate to eat even the most delicious food we like? But if we are very hungry, don't we even eat any tasteless food we don't like? Here I thought about what is the joy of the full and the joy of the hungry. I couldn't think of the joy of the full man, but I thought that the joy of the hungry man was to fill the stomach with food. Don't you think so? Have you ever experienced the joy of being filled with food when you are hungry?
Dr. Yoon-sun Park says in Proverbs 27:7 that “He who is full” is compared to the proud, and the “the hungry” is compared to the humble. In the meantime, he says that the proud hate the word of God (“honey”) and that the humble man receives suffering sweetly (“bitter”) (Park). I think it's an interesting interpretation. If this interpretation is correct, it can be said that what pleases a person's heart is to love the word of God with a humble heart and to receive suffering sweetly. Unlike Dr. Park, I interpreted Proverbs 27:7 a little differently. What is the key point the Proverbs writer is trying to say in this passage? I think the key is not “He who is full”, but “the hungry”. In other words, I think the Proverbs writer is focusing on the hungry man who treats even bitter things sweeter than he who is full who hates even honey. And I thought that if the hungry man considers bitterness sweet, how much will the hungry man rejoice if we give the hungry man real sweet honey. At the same time, I wondered how joyful the hungry man would be when his hunger was filled because he ate honey. The lesson to be learned is that we, like the hungry man, yearn for honey, and are filled with it, so that we must enjoy the joy of our hearts.
So what is the honey that we yearn for and need to be filled here? To answer this question, I looked back at the first half of Proverbs 24:13-14, which we have already meditated on: “Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; ….” Looking at these words, the Proverbs writer tells us to eat honey because it is good, and he says specially “honey from the comb”. And the point he wants to tell us when he says, “honey from the comb is sweet” is wisdom. In other words, the Proverbs writer says that wisdom is as sweet as honey, so get wisdom. That’s why the Proverbs writer said in Proverbs 4:5-7: “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve 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.” The lesson we need to learn here is that we, like the hungry, yearn for the wisdom of God, such as honey from the comb, and obtain that wisdom. We must gain wisdom at the expense of anything. Wisdom is as important as that. To do that, first we must love wisdom. And we must eat the word of God as if we were eating honey with a heart that loves wisdom. In other words, we yearn for the pure word of God (Prov. 30:5), and we need to keep it by our side, read it, and meditate on it day and night. In doing so, I hope and pray that all of us gain wisdom that bring joy to our hearts.
Second, what bring joy to the heart is that he has a home to return to.
It was the last time I went to the English Ministry Union Retreat in the cabin in Big Bear. Before breakfast on the last day, I went out and sat in a chair and sat quietly by myself looking at the mountains and trees. Then I saw two birds flying around and sitting on a tree, and then I remembered the word of the Bible: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt. 10:29-31). In the meantime, I thought about ‘God even feeds all those birds too. Then I am sure He will feed me.’ I thought I had to trust and rely on God more and more.
Look at Proverbs 27:8 – “Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.” What do you think of “a bird that strays from its nest”? I thought of “migratory birds”. And when I thought of migratory birds that migrate their habitats through the seasons, I remembered the term ‘migratory bird congregation’ that I saw in newspapers or online. When I see people moving from church to church without their home church, I am both sad and worry. At the same time, I think it is important and blessing to have a church like my home. Especially, when a church like that house is a spiritual home in the Lord, we love each other with the love of the Lord, and are reconciled and peaceful, I think that it is the grace and blessing of God that we belong to such a church. Why did the Proverbs writer speak of “a bird that strays from its nest” in Proverbs 27:8? The reason is because he meant to refer to “a man who strays from his home.” In other words, “a man who strays from his home” is “Like a bird that strays from its nest.”
Who do you think of in the Bible when we say “a man who strays from his home”? I remember Joseph in the Book of Genesis. When Joseph was 17 years old, he was almost killed by his brothers who hated him and was forced to leave his home of Canaan and went to Egypt. And only when he was 39 years old, he reunited with his beloved father Jacob and his younger brother Benjamin, and lived together in Egypt. Then, Joseph eventually died in Egypt, unable to return to his home of Canaan. Humanly, we might think that Joseph was a poor man. It was because he couldn't go back to his home and died in a foreign country. When I think of Joseph, I think of Korean seniors living in South Korea, the United States, and other countries, although North Korea is their home. I think these people are called "displaced people". Its dictionary meaning is this: ‘Displaced people are people who have had a hard time returning to their home freely after leaving their home. This includes refugees’ (Internet). Looking at the Internet Korean JoongAng Ilbo, on September 14, 2016, there is an article under the title ‘Completing the mural of the Odusan Observation Deck in where we can see the North Korea … The Nostalgic Home drawn by 5000 displaced people.’ When I read it, 5,000 displaced people, separated families and defectors in Korea made a mural by collecting 5,000 paintings of their northern home painted on a canvas at the Unification Observation Deck of Mt. Odu, Paju, Gyeonggi-do. I think about how much they have missed their hometown.
Where is the home of us who believe in Jesus? Look at 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.” We are the ones leaving our old home and heading for the new home in heaven. This world is no longer our home. Our home is the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, with joy and joy, we can praise God the hymn “O, Think of the Home Over There”:
1. O, think of the home over there By the side of the river of light,
Where the saints, all immortal and fair, Are robed in their garments of white.
2. O, think of the friends over there Who before us the journey have trod,
Of the songs that they breathe on the air In their home in the palace of God.
3. My Savior is now over there, There my kindred and friends are at rest,
Then away from my sorrow and care Let me fly to the land of the blest.
4. I'll soon be at home over there, For the end of my journey I see;
Many dear to my heart, over there Are watching and waiting for me;
[Chorus]
Over there, over there, I'll soon be at home over there,
Over there, over there, over there, I'll soon be at home over there.
In this way, we have an eternal home to return to in the Lord. We will live there in joy forever in glory. This eternal and sure hope is sure joy to our hearts. Although we are now living in this sorrowful sinful world, we can rejoice today because we have Heaven, our home to return to. May our hearts be joyful for the everlasting hope given to us in the Lord in our hearts that yearn for our better home, heaven.
Third, it is a friend’s counsel that brings joy to the heart.
Are there any friends around you who bring joy to your heart? Do you have a friend who laughs and rejoices together and gives you not only joy in your heart, but a smile and laughter on your face? Or do you have a friend around you who makes your heart harder and even makes you miserable?
Not long ago, as I was reading the book "How to Read Job" by John H. Walton & Tremper Longman III, I thought about Job's friends again. And I wrote this: ‘Job's friends insisted that the reason why their friend Job was suffering was because he sinned against God. From Job's point of view, they were miserable comforters (Job 16:2). The fact that these comforters are near us can make our hearts even more painful.’ What do you think? Are there friends around you, like Job's friends, who made you more miserable? Have you ever experienced a friend who tried to comfort you when you were in pain and suffering, and the things he said made you heart heavier?
Look at Proverbs 27:9 – “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.” A friend's earnest counsel is like perfume and incense that bring joy to the heart. Here, ‘a friend's earnest counsel” means “a soul's counsel” in Hebrew. This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘The counsel of a true friend is not only words, but love that is admonished (earnestly) with the soul’ (Park).
Do you have a friend who loves you enough to urge you so earnestly with his soul? There is a Christian website that I often go to. I often go to the website and read articles of interest to me. And if the articles are good, I post them on our Church's English Ministry Facebook website and share with our church English speaking congregation. Among the articles I shared, the one I shared a while ago was an article titled “TRUE FRIENDSHIP”. The key Bible passage in the article is Proverbs 27:6 – “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” Based on this word, the person who wrote it urged us to pray to God for sending us a friend like Jesus, who is a true friend, saying five things about a friend like Jesus:
First, pray for friends who can wound you with love.
Second, pray for friends who can edify you.
Third, be grateful for your friends who love you enough to wound you.
Fourth, invite other people's wounds as well.
Finally, be a friend of someone who is wounded with love.
What a great blessing if we have such a friend? We should pray for these friends. But first, let's pray that we can be that kind of friend to our friends. And let us first train ourselves to humbly accept the loving advice of Jesus, our Friend, in our hearts. Even if we have wounds in our hearts in receiving that advice, let us humbly receive the hurting advice of the Lord. And I hope and pray that all of us may be able enjoy receiving the Lord's advice humbly in our hearts.
Fourth and last, it is a faithful and close neighbor who brings joy in the heart.
Do you have any neighbors close to you? We should be grateful that some of our neighbor whom we see often and get along well than our siblings. I think we should be grateful especially if our neighbor is a neighbor who treats us faithfully. Such faithful neighbor is better than our siblings who is unfaithful and who don’t even care whether you are in trouble or not.
Look at Proverbs 27:10 – “Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you-- better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.” Here, “your friend and the friend of your father” means “your friend, a friend who has been faithful to your father” (Park). In other words, a man should value a person who has been recognized as a faithful person from the time of his father and must not forsake the person as his father’s son (Park). Are there any friends of your parents who, in your eyes, have been recognized as faithful since your parents' days? If there is, we should be grateful for just getting to know this faithful father's friends. In particular, if our parents are dead and their faithful friends are still alive, it would be nice to stay close to them and treat them as we treat our parents. In this way, we must not forsake them who have been faithful friends from our father's days. And as sons, we should respect them. In the midst of that, the lesson the Proverbs writer gives us in Proverbs 27:10 is that we should not enter our brother's house when disaster strikes us. What is the reason? Based of verses 9 and 10, I think the reason is because our brother not only don’t love us (v. 9), but also he doesn’t treat us faithfully (v. 10). Can't you imagine? If you are in trouble and have a reason not to ask your brother for help, what might be? If you are convinced in your heart that 'my brother loves me and has been faithful to me so far, he will surely help me even if I ask for help', then you will ask your brother for help. But if you think in your heart, 'My brother doesn't love me and is unfaithful to me, so even if I ask for help he won't help me', you wouldn't ask your brother for help. Isn't it true? A more accurate answer is given in verse 10: “… better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.” In other words, the reason the Bible tells us not to visit our brother's house when it is difficult is because our brother is a ‘far brother’. In fact, if our relationship with our brother is not very close, but rather far, will our brother come to mind when we are difficult and go to his house to ask for help? Of course, if it is very difficult and there is no one to go and ask for help, then we will reluctantly go to our brother for help. But will he really help us? Rather, the brother's relationship is more likely to go further. I think the reason our relationship with our brother has fallen apart is that our brothers, as verses 9 and 10 say, don’t love us and are not faithful to us. In other words, in order for a brother's relationship to be close, that relationship must have love and faithfulness. However, the relationship between brother without such love and faithfulness is inevitably distant, and the Bible tells us not to visit the distant brother when disaster strikes us (v. 10). Rather, the Bible says, “… better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away” (v. 10). In other words, it is better to have a close neighbor with love and faithfulness than a distant brother without love and faithfulness. What do you think? Do you have this close neighbor? If there is, your heart will be happy.
In this sad world, I hope and pray that all of us can enjoy the joy that God gives to our hearts. May we all enjoy the joy of our hearts because of the wisdom God gives us, the counsel of our faithful friend, and our close neighbor.