Proverbs 15:13

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about a cheerful heart:

Proverbs 15:13 (ESV)

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,

but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

This is contrasting Hebrew poetry: The first line is contrasted by the second. You can’t really understand the first line (a glad heart makes the face cheerful) without considering the second line (a sorrowful heart crushes the spirit). So, we can easily conclude that whatever is in our hearts will affect what we look like and what we feel like. If we want to have a great spirit to show to the world we have to have contentment in our heart. Believers who trust God will have that trust showing on their faces. When we worry, we wear that, as well. So, we can show what we wear in our hearts by what we wear on our faces. People who trust God and don’t worry show a cheerful heart. What do you show others about what you are wearing in your heart? Solomon would later say:

Proverbs 17:22

A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Our emotions are connected to our disposition.  God is working on our hearts and as we allow Him and yield to Him we can expect a change in emotions.  Emotions are outward and visible while God's work is done inwardly and in secret, between God and us.