"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad"
anxiety
This is the Hebrew word deagah which means anxiety, concern, anxious care. If we follow the rest of the Scripture, this is a nervous preoccupation with what is beyond our control. The key to fixing anxiety is action. Do what you can do and leave the rest to God and others. Anxiety gets a grip on our heart because it convinces us that all this worry is really accomplishing something.
In the New Testament it says: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)
weighs
This is the Hebrew word shachah which means to bow down, to bring homage, brings down. The idea here is that this nervous energy and desire to change what you cannot change becomes a weight that wears you down. The opposite of this is faith or action. Anxiety is inaction and a lack of trust.
When we are anxious, we are just sitting still and revving our engines with nothing to do. We need to determine if there is anything we can do and if there is, then we need to do it. If there is not, then we must trust God and pray to Him for what He understands to be the best.
Too many times we cop-out instead of really engaging in actual efforts that we can do. We allow anxiousness to eat us alive because something is out of our control. If it is, then let it be in God's hands where it belongs. If there are things that you need to do, then do them.
but a good word makes it glad
Nervous energy that takes no action or won't trust God is a great weight, but good news about what we are waiting for brings a lightness to the soul. Encouraging words may be just words, but they make all the difference.
There are a few questions that automatically jump out of this proverb:
Do you worry regularly? Take action in a righteous direction. It is hard to be anxious when you are busy doing good and right things.
When people see you coming, do they expect you to give them an encouraging word or a negative/critical word?
Name three people you will run into today. What three positive encouraging things can you say to each of them?
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz