Homilist Proverbs 14:10 The heart knows his own bitterness; and a stranger does not intermeddle with his joy. Though men live in towns and cities, and in social gatherings, each man is a world to himself. He is as distinct, even from him who is in closest material or mental contact with him, as one orb of heaven is from another. I. THE HEART HAS HIDDEN DEPTHS OF SORROW. There is bitterness in every heart. 1. There is the bitterness of disappointed love. 2. There is the bitterness of social bereavement — Rachels weeping for their lost children, and Davids for their Absaloms. 3. There is the bitterness of moral remorse. All this is hidden where it is the most deep.The deepest sorrow in the human heart is hidden from others from three causes. 1. The insulating tendency of deep grief. Deep sorrow withdraws from society and seeks some Gethsemane of solitude. 2. The concealing instinct of deep grief. Men parade little sorrows, but conceal great ones. Deep sorrows are mute. 3. The incapacity of one soul to sound the depths of another. There is such a peculiarity in the constitution and circumstances of each soul that one can never fully understand another. II. THE HEART HAS HIDDEN DEPTHS OF JOY. "A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." Though joy is less self-concealing than sorrow, yet it has depths unknown to any but its possessor and its God. The joy that rushed into Abraham's heart when Isaac descended with him from the altar on Moriah; the joy of the father when he pressed his prodigal son to his bosom; the joy of the widow of Nain when her only son raised himself from the bier, and returned to gladden her lowly home; the joy of the broken-hearted woman when she heard Christ say, "Thy sins are all forgiven thee"; such joy has depths that no outward eye could penetrate. The joy of the true Christian is indeed a joy "unspeakable and full of glory." This subject furnishes an argument — 1. For candour amongst men. 2. For piety towards God.Though men know us not, God does. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.WEB: The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger. |
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