Doing good works can help heal anxiety and depressive disorder
The context of Isaiah 58 is about rebuking the people for fasting with a hypocritical heart. Although they declared their love for God, they hated one another and expected God to hear their cry for the healing of their land.
They were supposed to be kind to one another, help the poor and the needy. However, they turned away from their kind and neglected those in need.
Isaiah proclaims that if their hearts were good and they loved one another, healing would take place. Light and righteousness will go before them, and the glory of the Lord will protect them, and He will answer them.
Isaiah 58:1-9
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food (deal thy bread, KJV) with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”
To deal thy bread
“Share your food” (v7) literary means to break bread. In KJV, “To deal thy bread” (פָרֹ֤ס, paras, to divide) was the literal translation.
It is a familiar phrase of the New Testament (Matthew 26:26; Acts 20:11; Acts 27:34) where the bread (thin oval cakes) was naturally broken into pieces, rather than cut, and shared among those in the table.
Science says helping others makes us happier
Positive feelings are associated with helping others (social volunteering) because it feeds the psychological needs of both sides. [Psychology Today]
Interestingly, science correlates helping others with making us feel better emotionally. Thus bringing us to a path of healing.
These can be anything from feeding the homeless, mission work, or helping the elderly.
Doing so causes the brain to produce certain chemical hormones that, in turn, make us feel happy—however, our true intention matters.
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