Proverbs 27:19

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about the reflection of our heart:

Proverbs 27:19

As water reflects a face, So a man’s heart reflects the man.

Proverbs 27:19 (ESV)

As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of man reflects the man.

 This is a word picture proverb. It is called emblematic Hebrew parallelism.   The picture is of a man who stops by a pool of water and bends down, perhaps to get a drink. As his face draws closer to the pool he begins to see his reflection. No matter how hard he tries he cannot hide the look on his face. The pool, like a mirror, is always accurate. So, too, do we reflect in our face what is really in our hearts. We can’t hide the real feelings we have in our inner being. Just as the pool of water accurately reflects the expression and character of our face, so too does our life reflect the true character of our hearts. The only way you improve on the reflection of the pool is to change the face. And, the only way to change the life we act out is to change the heart. And, the only way to change the heart is to give it to the Chief Heart Surgeon, Jesus Christ. Only Christ can change a life by changing the heart. Give Him your heart and He can make life changes for you.  You can try to hide, smoother, and/or disguise your heart.  But, eventually, the truth of your heart breaks through on the telling of your face.   In the book of Proverbs Solomon is telling us how to avoid folly and to walk, rather, in wisdom.   This proverb does not tell us as much how to walk in that wisdom, as it tells us more about what that will look like.  Someone who has wisdom in their heart will show it on the character of their lives.  Someone, too, who has folly in the heart shows that foolish character in their lives.  Joy in the heart shows up on the face.  Depression in the heart also shows up on the face.   Jesus stated it this way:

Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

So, our face and our eyes point out the condition of the heart.    We ought to work on the inner part first because the outer part will show us what condition we are truly experiencing in our lives.