Proverbs Chapter 12

Proverbs 12:25
"Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad."

I love to hike and climb in the Rocky Mountains. I remember a few years back I was hiking with a group of teenage boys from our church. I was in decent shape for a man 40+ but definitely not prime. One particular day we had been hiking for most of the day and I was getting very tired. We still had to hike over a rather high pass to get to our campsite on the other side. I looked up at the pass. I saw the top and felt almost overwhelmed. Suddenly I was even more tired. I was out of breath. The pack seemed to instantly grow in weight. The pass grew even taller. I called for a short break. Once we continued on I began talking to some of the guys and before I knew it we were over the pass and camping on the other side. I learned a valuable lesson that day. When I focused on the coming task it grew more difficult. When I took my focus off the height of the pass, the weight of my pack, the lack of oxygen and my tired body it turned out to be less difficult than I had thought it would be.

The primary meaning of the word for "heaviness" is apprehension or fear because of approaching trouble. My focus on the pass we were climbing and the resulting apprehension made my mind and body "stoop" with heaviness. It is very interesting that Solomon uses the word "stoop" as the result of heaviness or fear in the heart of a man. This is the word used for "worship" in the OT. It means to bow down or prostrate oneself. Just as we "bow down" to Almighty God in worship we can "bow down" in fear and anxiety to the trials and tribulations coming our way. The principle here is that we tend to "bow down" or dare I say "worship" that which we focus on.

The verse goes on to say that a good word makes it (the heart of man) glad. To be glad is to rejoice. It is not used here as a lasting state of well being or rejoicing but as a spontaneous, unsustained feeling of gladness, usually expressed in some visible manner, that is brought on by some external and unsustained stimulus. This reaction could range from jumping up and down, to pumping your fist and shouting "yeah!", to a simple smile. That is the idea here. A good word will not remove the source of the trial nor will it completely cancel the anxiety and fear. But a good word given in the right way at the right time can help a person take his eyes off his troublesome circumstances and give him at least a moment to be glad. And even that momentary respite means a lot to a person "bowed down" by the weight of his heavy load.

Please notice that Solomon does not condemn the "stooping" that occurs from the "heaviness" in the heart. It is a natural reaction to the trials and tribulations we face. God is good and has good reasons for the trials He brings to our lives. He wants us to learn how to focus on Him and not the trial. He wants us to "bow down" to Him and not the circumstances. He wants us to use the lessons learned in our struggles as sources of "good words" for others going through similar struggles. Paul put it this way in 2 Cor 1:4, "Who (God) comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."