Psalm 119:28 - My soul is weary with sorrow

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.

Psalm 119:28

Commentary

How do we handle depression? Much of our advertising and media bombard us with images of happy people. This can become the unspoken "ideal life". So when we encounter emotions that may contradict this imagery we find ourselves unprepared. But the Scripture sees sorrow as a part of the human condition. Many of the Psalms deal with feelings of overwhelming depression. And as the Bible addresses these feelings we find that it gives us the guide to navigate through sorrow - the promises of Scripture itself. God's word assures us in our sorrow and gives us lighthouses of hope to help us navigate through the dark moments of our soul.

Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace NYC

James 1:27 - Look after orphans and widows in their distress

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:27

Commentary

Orphans and widows were the poor and powerless in 1st Century Israel. Land and opportunities were based upon lineage, so to not have a husband or father was to have no future. James is challenging the Christians of his day to not merit their spirituality upon how well they could recite doctrine, but how well they lived it. Thankfully, the early Church understood this. When the ancient world threw out the orphans and widows, Christianity offered them a unique haven. This was noticed by Greeks and Romans alike and caused Christianity to spread around the world. One must ask, would our actions today match up to theirs?

Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, Grace NYC