THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD DAY AND A BAD ONE
"For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast." Proverbs 15:15
I recently read this proverb and was really drawn to it. It was deep as most proverbs are but it had me wondering what the difference was for the one who dreads each day and the one who can’t wait to live each day. Is there an answer to the difference in this short proverb? I think so.
I noticed this proverb isn’t teaching you a truth to live out, rather it reveals a truth. The truth that is being revealed is the condition of the heart and how it affects one’s view on life. The author makes a contrast between a despondent heart and a happy heart. The despondent heart may be easier understood as gloomy. A gloomy heart is one who has lost courage or has lost hope. A despondent heart sees the day with a gloomy view.
The author says the happy heart views life as an unending feast. I’ve been to a feast. My brother, Aaron and his wife, Jen had a feast at their wedding. The main course was already amazing but they also had multiple tables of desserts with stacks of cookies and candy. I was in high-school and a football player so my big appetite was in heaven.
I love the visual of a continual feast and not just because I like food. A feast makes me think of joy, laughter, the company of family, good friends, and holidays. I also think of how a feast offers a variety of foods to indulge, just like this life offers a variety of things to enjoy.
There is a deeper realization the author is trying to communicate— it’s the condition of your heart determines your outlook of each day. A despondent heart will have difficulty seeing a blissful, continual feast. A happy heart will struggle to see gloom. My intention isn’t to write about empathy for one another here, but I think this would be a good place for it. Everyone is different and we see life the way our hearts and minds see.
“The condition of your heart determines your outlook of each day.”
As I write, it’s a gorgeous spring day—the perfect 75-degree weather that we all can’t wait to enjoy after a long winter. My cheerful heart is saying, “enjoy this gorgeous, beautiful day.” Someone else may be living the exact same day but all they feel is gloom.
I rarely miss a meal, but I’ve been through some things that have caused me to lose my appetite. When I look back, that day was gloomy. My heart was breaking and my mind couldn’t compute the gorgeous day and loving family around me to enjoy. I couldn’t enjoy life because my heart was so troubled.
This tells me the heart is a powerful thing.
You see, there can be thousands of things to be thankful for and enjoy each day, but if your heart has lost courage, hope, or is overwhelmed by hurt then it’s hard to see life as something to enjoy.
How do we get a cheerful, happy heart?
God changed everything for me when I realized His love and forgiveness for me. When I put my faith in Jesus it was like a light started to burn in me. A light that lit up the dark places of gloom and doom. It’s hard to explain until you begin to read all the gifts and blessings that come from having God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, live in you. In the book of Galatians the Apostle Paul teaches that the fruit (product) of the Spirit in us includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (5:22-23). Those qualities sound like a feast.
How did the Holy Spirit come to dwell inside my heart? By believing and accepting what Jesus had done for me through his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus came in and everything changed.
Jesus isn’t despondent, He IS courage. Jesus IS Hope. God IS love. God IS joy. Believers in Jesus can’t live life seeing every day with a gloomy view. We’ll have our bad days, but they won’t last. If you’re sick of missing the feast, I want to encourage you to let God renovate your heart. Cry out to God and ask him to save you, to change and heal your heart.
The heart needs wholeness and nothing in this world is going to bring that. You have a God-shaped hole that only God can fill because you belong to Him. God created you. His love and joy belong in that hole.
“You have a God-shaped hole that only God can fill because you belong to Him. God created you. His love and joy belong in that hole.”
In case I’m not making any sense to you, look at what another book in the Bible says— “So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26).
It is God that enables us to truly enjoy life. Life is good because our hearts are full of God. Once we have God we see life as we should. Troubles are only momentary and temporary—they are no longer devasting in light of eternity! Enjoying life in all circumstances is possible because life after this one is going to literally be perfect, everything put right.
For those of you who have happy hearts but you are having a gloomy day let me remind you of something rather simple… You got up today. You haven’t quit. That makes you courageous, that makes you hopeful, that means you’re not done, you are not despondent. The mind plays tricks on the heart. You’re not what you feel and whatever you’re going through will pass.
There are too many people who love you and too many people to love. There’s a God who is your strength and His strength is unending. God’s purpose for you today is to enjoy who He is, love your family and the community around you. Shine God’s joy so others can discover true joy. The world is watching you carry burdens but they also see how you continue to enjoy this life like it’s a feast. Way to go! Let them see the reality. Life can be hard, but it doesn’t have to keep you from enjoying it.
What do you see, a day of trouble or a continual feast to enjoy?
Don’t miss the feast. Find God and you find the feast.
“Life can be hard, but it doesn’t have to keep you from enjoying it.”
Praying for you.
Written by Pastor Ryan