Proverbs 15:15, “For the despondent, every day brings trouble; For the happy heart, life is a continual feast.”
To be despondent is to feel or show extreme discouragement, dejection, or depression; in low spirits from loss of hope or courage. It doesn’t matter what day it is, this heart disposition is going to cause it’s appearance to be undesirable. One more weight added to an already heavy load is crushing.
There was a bridge called Silver Bridge that spanned the Ohio river. It was built in the 1920s and it collapsed in 1967 in the middle of rush hour traffic. The bridge collapse killed forty-six of the sixty-four on board. This seemingly strong bridge collapsed because it had carried heavier loads than it was designed for. These heavy loads caused stress cracks that weakened the strength of the structure and without repair or reinforcements the bridge was continually deteriorating until it could stand no longer and collapsed.
Proverbs 18:14 says, “The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?” The spirit is what fuels the body and if that is smashed to pieces soon the body will follow. But a strong spirit will heal a sick body. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”
The spirit brings life to the body, and therefore the condition of the body is a reflection of the spirit. If you see some stress cracks in your attitude it’s time for some repairs and reinforcements. The more you focus on the cracks the greater they become. To properly repair them we need to solve the source of the cause. The more we focus on discouragement the more discouragement we feel. But when we discover the source of the discouragement we can fix it.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
When an engineer sets out to fix the bridge, he fixes it. When Jesus said, “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” he meant it! There is an exchange that must take place. You give your weary, burdened, broke down, smashed up troubles and you take firm hold of “rest”. If you leave with what you came in with, you didn’t let go to take hold of what you came for. You better go back!
We are not built to maintain a spirit of discouragement, so don’t!