The story of Louie Zamperini is captivating. When I read Unbroken last year along with a few guys on our church staff, I was riveted by the story of the World War II airman who was shot down over the Pacific and lost at sea for 47 days, then captured along with the pilot of his plane, Phil. The guards at the POW camp were viciously brutal to them, but they soon discovered that it wasn’t the physical injuries that hurt the most:
The crash of Green Hornet had left Louie and Phil in the most desperate physical extremity, without food, water, or shelter. But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.
Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man’s soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty.
Louie experienced an extreme version of something we all discovered on the playground when we were kids. Injuries to your spirit hurt so much more than injuries to your body. Sticks and stones may break my bones, and words will break my spirit even more. But, according to Proverbs, there’s a way to stay unbroken, even happy, even when many things conspire to bring you down.
A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. (Proverbs 15:13-15)
There will always be internal things that tempt you to be sad: “by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.” Memories of the past. Regrets from mistakes you’ve made. Anxiety about the way people look at you. That’s the sorrow of the heart trying to crush your spirit. And then there will always be external things that try to bring you down: “the days of the afflicted.” Your boss yells at you. Your kids disobey you. Your car breaks down on you. Those are the days of affliction trying to discourage you.
But it’s possible to have a glad and cheerful heart even when all that’s going on around you and inside of you: “All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.” That’s not talking about two different groups of people, the afflicted over here and the cheerful over there, it’s saying all of us are afflicted by evil all of our days, but we can still be happy. We can still live life like it’s a continual feast. One long party.
How? “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge.” Your feelings need to be informed by your knowledge. Don’t just feel your feelings, inform your feelings. Direct your feelings. Shape your feelings.
Now, it’s not wrong to feel sad. Isaiah 53 says Jesus is a man of sorrows, because he’s deeply engaged with this world, and this world is a very sad place. When you see people getting beheaded by ISIS, that should make you sad. When your kid gets teased at school, you should be sad about that. Mourn with those who mourn.
But Proverbs says it’s possible to fully engage with all the pain and evil and affliction in the world, and still have a ridiculously cheerful heart. A continuous feast inside. It’s possible to be the saddest person in the world and the happiest person in the world at the very same time. The secret, as Proverbs says, is seeking knowledge.
What kind of knowledge? Paul elaborated in his letter to the Corinthians:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:6-10)
You can be afflicted but not crushed — struck down but not destroyed — if you know the glory of God as it’s displayed in the face, character, and actions of Jesus Christ. If you have that knowledge, everything changes. Then, when you’re being afflicted, you can identify with Jesus in his affliction. You can carry around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in your body.
Jesus died because of all the sin and pain and misery in this world, but he rose from the dead to prove that he conquered it. That’s what can give you a cheerful heart in the middle of affliction. The knowledge that Jesus has overcome affliction, and someday he’s coming back to put an end to affliction. Jesus is unbroken, and in him, neither are you.