The Sin of Brooding
Proverbs 12:25
Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop: but a good word makes it glad.


There is a necessity that we should be in heaviness through manifold temptations; but we must beware lest by giving free scope to anxious and melancholy thoughts, our hearts should sink in us like a stone, and our souls become altogether unfit to relish the comforts or perform the services of life. Sadness of the countenance makes the heart better, but despondency of heart disqualifies men for thanking and praising God, for serving their generation, and for hearing the burdens of life. Life itself becomes burdensome, and is often shortened, by excessive grief. There is nothing that claims our grief so much as sin, and yet there may be an excess of sorrow for sin which exposes men to the devil, and drives them into his arms. Are you grieved in your minds? Remember that it is sinful and dangerous to brood perpetually over your sorrows.

(G. Lawson.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

WEB: Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.




The Saddening and the Succouring
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