A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 ESV)
Long before research could say so, God pointed us in Scripture to a vital medicine—laughter. For, God’s Word says, “A joyful heart is good medicine.”
Everyone loves to laugh. Who doesn’t feel better after “cracking up?”
Oh, bless that unexpected laughter that comes at the times we need it most! What a welcome interruption to pain and grief. It distracts you from your troubles. It diffuses anger. There’s real power in a smile—and certainly in a belly-laugh. Laughter is heart-medicine.
Medicine doesn’t often heal your body immediately. Rather, most medicines help your body heal itself. Medicine often mitigates your body’s intense reactions, decreases inflammation, increases the speed of an internal process, or offers extra resources to a bodily function.
Like medicine, laughter can’t rid you of grief, or revive your crushed spirit, but it can help renew your mental, spiritual, and emotional strength. Laughter momentarily anesthetizes your heart-pain, improves how you feel, and clears your mind.
Scripture tells us joy is good medicine—which of course includes pure laughter. Laughter may be as mildly effective as honey on a sore throat, or it could have the power of a controlled substance. Each heart knows its own sorrow, and regardless of how far this medicine goes, we know laughter medicates souls!
Laugh If You Love Jesus
Proverbs 17:22 is wisdom; it’s not an experience contingent on being a Christian; it’s true for everyone.
Yet those who have trusted Jesus have an advantage when it comes to embracing the medicine of joy. Those who are reconciled to God because of their faith in Jesus have the Holy Spirit’s presence residing in them. We are not alone in a deep sense; our spirit is not the only spirit within us, for God himself is with us by his Spirit.
Joy is something that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives (Galatians 5:22). For, joy is part of who God is—he even sings (Zephaniah 3:17)! God makes it his business to bring joy into the lives of his children (John 15:1; John 16:24). At the same time, when we earnestly need the medicine of laughter, we can ask the Holy Spirit—the God of joy—to administer it.
Lord, my heart is so heavy today, could you bring laughter into my life through an experience or friend?
Followers of Jesus do not endure less pain than the rest of the world; we suffer intense pain and grieve deeply. Yet there is a current of joy that runs beneath all of our sorrows (2 Corinthians 6:10), because the God of joy never forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5).
If you love Jesus, you can ask for help to laugh when you know you need that medicine!
To Laugh Is Not to Deny Your Pain
Does laughing minimize grief or fail to honor the magnitude of it? No. The wisdom literature of the Bible recognizes that laughter isn’t a miracle pill: “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief” (Proverbs 14:13 ESV). Though your belly-laugh may end in a sore heart as well as sore abs, that’s okay that your grief has remained despite your happy cackle.
Your pain is real, but it’s not lord of your life. Perhaps it’s good to kick it off the throne with a good laugh. Maybe laughter is one way to not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Careful What You Laugh About
You might want to laugh or even crave the joy of laughter today, but the trouble is…laughter is usually spontaneous! Yet we can seek it out.
Just remember that when we do, if we desire to honor the Lord, we must look for it in the right places. God commands us: “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4 ESV). We must not seek laughter from crude sources.
Thankfully, there are many lovely places to find laughter. You can find it in that witty friend, who God wired to spark laughter in others. You can find it in the presence of children, who say the funniest things. You can find it in clean comedians. You can find it in pleasant memories.
Do you need a joyful heart today? The Bible says it’s good medicine. Laughter is a spark that ignites joy in the heart. Pray for a good laugh today! Or go look for one in the places you know to find it.
