This Proverbs mini-series is focused on developing a biblical anthropology of “the heart.” In the first three weeks, we will ask: What is the heart? How is it shaped? And how does it become wise? In the second three weeks, we will deal with common heart problems.

OPENING DISCUSSION
Describe a time when your heart was weighed down or troubled, but something happened to lift your spirit again. What happened? Why do you think that particular thing had the power to lift your spirit?

BIG IDEA
According to Proverbs, wise people acknowledge two important realities: (1) the heart can often experience deep pain, trouble, distress, and sorrow, but (2) the heart can also be restored and re-enlivened by God.

Read Proverbs 18:14

• How would you restate the main point of this proverb in your own words?
• Have you ever experienced a time when your spirit was crushed? What happened, and how did you respond?
• How did that experience change your perspective? 
• How did it affect your faith in Jesus?

Read Proverbs 12:25, 13:12, 14:30, 18:12, and 25:25

• According to these Proverbs, what kinds of things have the power to restore and renew our hearts?
• Which of these Proverbs resonate with you the most? And why?

Read Philippians 4:6-7
In these verses, Paul describes a heart weighed down with anxiety and gives a prescription for restoring and renewing the heart.

• Instead of letting anxiety weigh our hearts down, what does Paul tell us to do instead?
• Why do you think Paul mentions both prayer and thanksgiving as a pathway to reviving the anxious heart?
• What promise or “good word” (cf Prov 12:25) does Paul give us in verse 7 aimed at turning the anxious heart into a peaceful heart?
• What is one area of life where your heart is currently feeling anxious? What would it look like for you to follow Paul’s prescription?