A Crushed Spirit, Who Can Bear?
Earlier this week I read Prov 18:14: “A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” and I thought immediately of two things: my late 27 year-old brother-in-law’s two-year battle with mouth cancer and our conference. Watching my brother-in-law, Andrew, endure such agony with such grace is something that has profoundly affected my life (click here to listen to some lessons I learned). It was his relationship with Jesus that sustained him to the end. He was able to endure sickness of a kind that many of us will never experience because his spirit was nourished by the gospel of his loving Lord. But what about people whose spirits are crushed - people like us? This proverb seems to suggest that sickness, even like that which Andrew suffered is not as powerful as the soul-sickness that can infect all our lives. Where can we turn when depression and discouragement attack our souls like cancer? And yet, all is not lost. There is an answer to the wise man’s question. A crushed spirit, who can bear? Answer: Jesus can! And did - for us. This means that even our sadness cannot rob us of the joy we have in Jesus. And even our grief cannot rob us of the hope we have in Jesus.