by Hal Seed
It’s impressive how quickly we’ve all become experts in avoiding germs:
Wash your hands.
Don’t touch your face.
Maintain social distance.
Etc.
After thirty plus years of teaching the Bible, I’ve seen first-hand that God has something to say on every subject; including staying well and curing illness.
For instance, Proverbs 3:7-8 says:
Don’t be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
This will be healing for your body
and strengthening for your bones.
Apparently, there’s a relationship between humble acknowledgement of God and physical wellness. This might explain why people who attend church regularly live, on average, seven-and-a-half years longer than those who don’t.
What might surprise you is how closely God lumps together spiritual and physical wellness.
Read these Proverbs out loud to see what I mean:
A tranquil heart is life to the body… (Proverbs 14:30)
Bright eyes cheer the heart;
good news strengthens the bones. (Proverbs 15:30)A person’s spirit can endure sickness,
but who can survive a broken spirit? (Proverbs 18:14)A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)
Walk through these with me.
Proverbs 14:30 – A “tranquil” heart. The word in Hebrew means, “yielded” or “peaceful.” If you can keep your heart at peace, it will have a life-giving effect on your body.
Proverbs 18:14 – Depressed people are more susceptible to disease.
Proverbs 17:22 – A cheerful heart is good medicine. This is my favorite. This is the only place the Hebrew word for “medicine” appears in the Bible.
What’s interesting about the second half of the proverb, “a crushed spirit dries up in the bones,” is that long before modern medicine, the Hebrews knew that dry bones were sick bones. Healthy bones have fat and moisture in their marrow.
Norman Cousins, the famous editor of The Saturday Review was diagnosed with “degenerative collagen disease,” and given one chance in 500 to recover. He went to work on researching the biochemistry of human emotions and decided to combine massive doses of vitamin C with what he called, “Laugh Therapy.”
“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of painless sleep,” he wrote in Anatomy of an Illness.
Cousins found by research what God gave by revelation 3,000 years earlier: A cheerful heart really is good medicine.
Proverbs 15:30 – In the King James Version, the second half of this verse reads, “a good report maketh the bones fat.”
May I make a suggestion?
Watch less news today. There won’t be any “good reports” there.
If you’re going to watch something, watch something that will make you laugh.
Make it your goal to consume at least ten minutes of genuine laughter.
Better yet, set a goal of helping someone else experience ten minutes of laughter.
Father, thank you for creating us with a sense of humor. Thank you for enabling our lips to curl upward. Today I am letting go of worry and stress and pain. I choose to laugh and find joy in life. In Jesus’ name, amen!
Smiling with you,
Pastor Hal