Proverbs 14:13 – “Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.” Somewhere in the history of America, I’m not sure we could pinpoint a specific event that set it in motion, people have bought into the idea that when times get hard the best thing to do is just push through it. Whether it is sorrow, pain, grief, mental struggles, social problems, etc., we are told to put our nose to the grind and try our best to keep our minds off of it. The problem with this mindset is that there is no spiritual introspection nor any plea toward our Heavenly Father to reveal how to address our situation. Solomon wisely concluded that if sorrow has taken abode in our hearts that no amount of laughter can stay our return to heaviness once the euphoria has passed. Should your heart be full of misery, no amount of work will cause your heart to forget it. You’ll only be overworked and still miserable when you end your day. Throughout churches all across the world there are people that service after service come in with heavy hearts, are uplifted by the worship hour, and then head back home to find that their heaviness is still waiting on them. What happens while we sit in pews will not change our hearts, attendance is not synonymous with action. It is on the alter where we can cast our heaviness onto the Lord. It is in the Bible that we find sustenance for our weary hearts. It is in fellowship that our spirits are buoyed through the struggle of our days. Laughing, though good at masking our pain, will not cure it. No matter how mightily the Lord shows out during a service, the joy of His presence will not last if we are not daily walking in His presence. Busting ourselves will only serve to cause more distraction from the Holy Ghost and His attempts to open our eyes to the problem in our heart. When something has taken root in our hearts the worst thing we can do is try to mask it or forget about it. The best, though not always the easiest, thing to do is petition the Lord to make our heart known to us and to assist in keeping our vineyard free of anything but fruit for the Master.
Your fellowservant in Christ, Bro. Jordan Foster
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