Comforting the Heavy Hearted

Proverbs 25:20

Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart
is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
and like vinegar on soda. ESV

Singing light songs to the heavyhearted
is like pouring salt in their wounds. The Message

The writer speaks of the thoughtlessness and even cruelty involved here. Sorrow and grief have no time-table. The sufferer cannot in advance set an end date for these emotions. Yet others do. I have heard people say, "It has been a month already. It is time to stop." Years ago when I was suffering through a horrible loss, someone who should have known better said to me, "Smile! Look happy!" People who grieve bear an incredible weight. It is like a load of bricks has been dropped on them. They need good listeners—people who care and are willing to go the distance, knowing that they cannot remove the entire load bricks, but they can help remove one stone at a time.

"Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15). "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body" (Hebrews 13:3).

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