You Need All You Can Get

The lowly have seen and rejoiced, those who seek God, let their hearts be strong.  Psalm 69:33 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter Let – There are at least two ways to read this verse.  It depends on which meaning you attach to the wide umbrella Hebrew word ḥāyâ.  Here are some choices: “live, have life, remain…

The “Spiritual” Man

Make glad the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 86:4 NASB Make glad – How do you interpret this request? If you’re encumbered by the typical Western paradigm, you might think the psalmist is asking God to gladden his inner, spiritual self. If you view man…

Feeling Commandments

and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish…

The Gray Life

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10 ESV Everlasting joy – “Joy is fundamental to human existence and well-being, yet it is an elusive phenomenon that…