Bridges on Proverbs 15:15
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 15:15
 
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15.  All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
 
Affliction, as the fruit and chastening of sin, is an evil. Hence all the days of the afflicted are evil. (Genesis 47:9. Psalm 90:7-9.) Yet a solid principle of inward satisfaction will bring real comfort in most trying circumstances. Though therefore the abounding consolation of Christian affliction does not blot out his penal character; yet the child of God is not so miserable as he seems to be. (2 Corinthians 6:10.) The darkest of these evil days can never make “the consolations of God small with him.”† He can sing in the prison, as in a palace.† He can “take joyfully the spoiling of his goods.”† He can praise his God, when he hath stripped him naked.† He can rejoice in him as his portion in earthly destitution.† ‘Who is it’ — said the heavenly Martyn in a moment of faintness — ‘that maketh my comforts to be a source of enjoyment? Cannot the same hand make cold, and hunger, and nakedness, and peril, to be a train of ministering angels conducting me to glory?’†
What real evil then can affliction bring? Or rather, what does it bring, but many feast days? (Ecclesiastes 9:7.) A few days’ feasting would soon weary the epicure. But here the merry heart hath a continual feast. His temporal mercies are fraught with cheerfulness. And ‘all his trouble is but the rattling hail upon the tiles of his house,’† not disturbing his enjoyment. Fed with this heavenly portion, shall I not thank my God, that he hath rooted me up from present satisfactions? “Let me not eat of this world's dainties. Thou hast put gladness into my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” (Psalm 141:4; 4:6, 7.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Genesis 47:9
9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
 
Psalm 90:7-9
7 ¶ For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. {passed...: Heb. turned away} {as a...: or, as a meditation}
 
 
2 Corinthians 6:10
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
 
 
Footnote:
Job 15:11.
 
 
Job 15:11
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
 
 
Footnote:
Acts 16:25.
 
 
Acts 16:25
25 ¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
 
 
Footnote:
Hebrews 10:34.
 
 
Hebrews 10:34
34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. {in yourselves...: or, that ye have in or, for yourselves}
 
 
Footnote:
Job 1:21.
 
 
Job 1:21
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
 
 
Footnote:
Habakkuk 3:17, 18.
 
 
Habakkuk 3:17, 18
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: {fail: Heb. lie} 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. s
 
 
Footnote:
Life, Chapter ii.
 
 
Ecclesiastes 9:7
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
 
 
Footnote:
Leighton on 1 Peter 1:2; 3:17.
 
 
1 Peter 1:2
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
 
1 Peter 3:17
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
 
 
Psalm 141:4
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
 
Psalm 4:6, 7
6 ¶ There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. 7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.