remain watchful until morning comes again. For the new man, whose occupation is nothing but waiting for the Lord and tarrying for Him, should not give up, as the outer man does and must do. That is living in the three supreme virtues: faith, hope, and love. The type and nature of these virtues is described in the psalms as "attitudes and the works which proceed from them."22 In this little psalm, therefore, the whole life, work, and activity of the inner man is masterfully described. It is nothing else than relying on God and letting His will stand in every respect.
7. O Israel, hope in the Lord!
This means: All spiritual and inwardly new people take the position, as already stated, that their whole life is one trusting and hoping in God and a relying on, and waiting for, Him; for Israel was the peculiar people of God, and such waiting behooved them. The name, too, is suitable; for Israel means a "wrestler with God" (Gen. 32:8). Now all who wait for the Lord so firmly that they wrestle, as it were, with God are the true Israelites.
For with the Lord there is steadfast love.
To know God aright is to recognize that with Him there is nothing but kindness and mercy. But those who feel that God is angry and unmerciful do not know Him aright. Therefore they rather flee from Him and do not wait for Him.
And with Him is plenteous redemption.
That is, with Him alone there is redemption out of the many depths mentioned above, and there is no other redemption. Although our sin is great, yet His redemption is greater, as John says (1 John 3:20):
"Whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things." Yet the proud try to find satisfaction and redemption in their own good works, attempt to work their own way out and be their own helper, redeemer, and source of mercy. They try to earn themselves truth and righteousness.
But what results from these attempts?
8. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
He, He, God Himself, not we ourselves, will redeem Israel. Take note that Israel is sinful and cannot help itself. What do Moab and Ishmael undertake, those proud saints, who refuse to see that the righteousness wherewith we are made righteous is nothing but a gracious gift of the pure, unmerited grace of God? Hence we should not be merciful to ourselves, but severe and angry, so that God may be merciful to us and not angry. For whoever wants to be merciful to himself, to him God will be unmerciful; and whoever is unmerciful to himself, to him God will be merciful.
THE SEVENTH PENITENTIAL PSALM 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications because of Thy faith! Answer me in Thy righteousness!
2. Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for no man living is righteous before Thee.
3. For the enemy persecutes my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me to sit in darkness like those long dead.
4. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
5. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that Thou hast done, and speak of what Thy hands have wrought.
6. I stretch out my hands to Thee; my soul thirsts for Thee like a parched land. Selah.
7. Make haste to answer me, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8. Let me hear in the morning of Thy steadfast love, for in Thee I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to Thee I lift up my soul.
9. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies! I have fled to Thee for refuge!
10. Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God! Let Thy good Spirit lead me on a level path!
11. For Thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In Thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
12. And in Thy steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am Thy servant.
EVERY psalm, all Scripture, calls to grace, extols grace, searches for Christ, and praises only God's work, while rejecting all the works of man. Therefore this psalm can be readily understood in the light of the foregoing, for it speaks the same language. Here one should keep in mind that this psalm has been and is spoken in the name of the whole people of Christ and of each person individually. The daily
- 86 enemies of this people are the worldly-wise and the self-righteous, who do not know and refuse to know anything about the grace of God. They even imagine that no one regards God's grace more highly that they, misled as they are into the error of their blind holiness and their good intentions.
1. Hear my prayer, O Lord.
The life of a saint is more a taking from God than a giving; more a desiring than a having; more a becoming pious than a being pious. Thus St. Augustine says that faith obtains what the Law demands.23
Hence imploring, desiring, searching is the true essence of the inner man, as in Ps. 34:10: "Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing," and in Ps. 105:4: "Seek His presence continually." Again, Ps. 14:3 says of the proud saints: "There is none that seeks after God"—they have already found Him.
Give ear to my supplications because of Thy faith!
Not on account of the work I do, but on account of the faith Thou givest me.
Answer me in Thy righteousness.
Not on account of my righteousness, for that is sin and unrighteousness. He would say: Give me faith, and make me righteous by grace; for I see some who claim to be right and want to stand because of their own works and righteousness. Preserve me from this. They want to be something, whereas they are nothing, vain, fools, and sinners. Here it should be noted that the little words "Thy faith" and "Thy righteousness" do not refer to the faith and the righteousness with which God believes and is righteous, as some have thought, but to the grace whereby God works faith in us and makes us righteous.24 Thus the apostle Paul in Rom. 1, 2, and 3 speaks of the righteousness and the faith of God given to us by the grace of Christ. A token or a painted gulden is not the real thing; it is only a representation. In fact, it is worthless and a fraud if it is given or considered as a real gulden, while a genuine gulden is such in truth and without deception. So the life, work, and righteousness of the conceited saints is, in comparison with the righteousness and work of the grace of God, only a semblance and a deadly, harmful fraud if it is held to be the real thing. This is not truth; but the real truth is that of God, who gives the genuine and fundamental righteousness, namely, faith in Christ.
2. Enter not into judgment with Thy servant.
If the servant of God, who is without doubt in the state of grace, cannot stand before the judgment throne but takes refuge in mercy, where will the enemies and sinners stay? Yes, where will the proud stay, who, in the blind arrogance of their works and good life, feel they can find merit, reward, favor, and God's righteousness? They also do not fear God's judgment on the good works, but only on the evil ones, just as though they knew what God's judgment will pronounce to be good or evil in their case.
For no man living is righteous before Thee.
It is as if he were saying: "In my eyes and in the eyes of men I can be accounted righteous, but before Thee no living person is justified." One who is dead, however, is justified, as we read in Rom.
6:7: "Who has died is freed from sin." This death begins with the life of penitence and lasts until the grave, as the psalmist says (44:23):25 "For Thy sake we are slain all the day long."
3. For the enemy persecutes my soul.
That is, my enemies, who always oppose me with their wisdom and righteousness. Every Abel has his Cain; every Isaac, his Ishmael; every Jacob, his Esau; and Christ, His Judas, who wars against his soul, especially in those things which pertain to the soul, namely, faith and righteousness. The proud in heart will not stand for it that their work and righteousness is regarded as nothing. Therefore they persecute the truly pious, who live only in the faith and righteousness of God.
He has crushed my life to the ground.
This means: They command respect and sit in high places. They rise high in the eyes of men because of their outward appearance. Consequently, I must be thoroughly humiliated, rejected, and despised before men. With these words the prophet wants to express how despised a man is who lives in grace and in Christ. No one honors him; in fact, everyone dishonors him; he is considered a wholly useless, incompetent, undesirable person in everything that concerns man. And whoever has not experienced this, does not have such enemies, and does not consider all his good works, words, counsel, and thoughts foolishness, evils and faults—he has not yet rightly come to Christ, unless he has become his own enemy and attributes to himself what others should attribute to him, and considers himself unfit and incompetent for all good words, works, and life, and really acknowledges this without deceit in his heart.
He has made me to sit in darkness like those long dead.
- 87 They dwell in the light, are well known and respected, illustrious and acceptable; but they lay me low in disgrace and disfavor. I am like a dead person who no longer appears before the world, as the psalmist has said above (102:6): "I am like a nocturnal raven,26 like a lonely bird in the wilderness." So it goes. The upright are expendable in every estate and office, and are ignored besides. No one wants to meet them or know them, but those with the appearance of holiness are stared at by everyone.
4. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
This is the right kind of sacrifice, one that pleases God, as already stated in the fourth of these psalms (51:17), namely, a soul that has no comfort among creatures and is even forsaken and persecuted by itself, so that it looks for nothing but the pure grace of God. Those who weep are blessed, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5:4).
5. I remember the days of old.
Those who are illustrious and exalted and dwell in the light of men do not want to be troubled and sad. They have comfort and joy in the present life and in the works of their own strength, wisdom, and righteousness; they do not need God. But I, who am so poor in these things, know of no other comfort than this, that God in times past has permitted all His saints to experience need and has never sustained anyone through his own works, abilities, knowledge, or piety. Thus Ps. 44:1–3: "O God, we have heard, our fathers have told us, what deeds Thou didst perform in their days, how Thou didst drive out and afflict the heathen, that Thou mightest plant them in their land. For indeed, not with their swords did they possess the land, nor did their own power help them, but Thy power and the gracious light of Thy countenance; for it pleased Thee to do this even though they did not deserve it."
I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that Thou hast done.
That is, I have taken no notice of man's works and words, no matter how brilliant and dear they are to the world; for I know that they can save no one and are of no use except to contribute toward false and vain glory. All comfort, help, and blessedness are due to Thy work alone. Only when Thou doest our works, and our works are not ours but Thine, then they are pleasing, right, true, and good before Thee. Those, however, who perform and honor the works of their own light, strength, and wisdom do not recognize the works of Thy grace. When he says "in all Thy works," he means that, although God's works are innumerable, the works with which he is concerned should be ascribed to God. He does not want to praise any work of man; for no work of man, but only God's work, amounts to something. In these words, therefore, he contrasts the ways of grace with those of nature. Furthermore, in Scripture the little word meditabor,27 which is translated here with "meditate on," often means to "preach" or "speak," as in Ps. 37:30: "The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom," that is, will preach wisely and with thoughtfulness about it. From this speaking of the works and grace of God springs this whole feud and persecution about which he complains above, namely, that the proud in heart depend, not on God's grace and work but on the help, counsel, and power of their own works; those are their thoughts.
And speak of what Thy hands have wrought.
That is, I have told and reminded them of the works of Thy hands, to keep them from esteeming their own works so highly. But this has angered them; therefore they have become my enemies. The "works of the hands of God" are the pious, whom He gives birth to and creates out of grace. This happens without any co-operation on their part, for this is how they become new creatures in Christ.
Now the works are the deeds and the suffering which God works through those so created and in which they co-operate. Ps. 28:5 says of this: "They do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of His hands." Again, Ps. 19:1: "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork"; that is, the apostles28 preach only about the righteousness which God works in us, not at all about the righteousness which men can produce.
6. I stretch out my hands to Thee.
That is, since everything depends on Thy work and grace, I justly seek only grace and never feel secure in my own efforts, as my enemies do. They do not stretch out their hands to Thee; rather, they stick them into their own bosom and desire nothing from Thee but take pleasure in themselves. "To stretch out the hand to God" implies prayer to God, but in this spiritual sense, that all our works should be ascribed to God.
My soul thirsts for Thee like a parched land. Selah.
- 88 Just as a parched field thirsts for rain, so my soul thirsts for Thy grace, as in Ps. 63:1: "My soul thirsts for Thee." This flows from the knowledge that all work without God's grace is nothing. The proud in heart do not believe this. Therefore their thoughts, words, and doctrine rest on their own works.
They are sated and do not thirst for grace, nor do they stretch forth their hands to God. They consider their life entirely satisfactory.
7. Make haste to answer me, O Lord! My spirit fails!
As said before, the disconsolate soul which finds nothing in itself is God's most cherished sacrifice, especially when it cries for His grace. God hears nothing more gladly than crying and thirsting for His mercy. But such a thirst cannot be present in a man who finds much of the good life in himself and does not fear the judgment of God. Now he says: "I have thirsted and longed for grace so long that I cannot go on. I am tired of waiting. It is time; now hurry, and hear me quickly!" It is said for our edification that we should wait patiently for God's grace and not despair, even though He may delay.
Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
God's delay in granting grace and help causes the soul to fear that it is forsaken and condemned. But it is put on the rack to make it desire greater and more profound grace and thus receive more perfect grace. Now he is a truly Christ-formed man who is inwardly disconsolate and of a contrite spirit and has a constant longing for God's grace and help. Yet when he tries to tell others of this cross and wants to teach them, he not only fails to find sympathy and a following but is repaid with ungratefulness and hatred. Thus he is inwardly and outwardly crucified with Christ. For the proud in heart stand boldly in their presumption that they are like those who are going to heaven. They do not have any fear of hell and thirst for grace.
8. Let me hear in the morning of Thy steadfast love.
That is, as stated in the fourth of these psalms (51:8): "Let me hear joy and gladness!" Let me hear Thy grace, which says to my heart (Matt. 9:2): "Your sins are forgiven." Thus God speaks peace to the hearts of His people, and He does this "early," that is, speedily. Delay not, He says, for I am tired and can wait no longer.
For in Thee I put my trust.
Let this move Thee, that I seek no other comfort than Thee alone. It is indeed something great not to look to man or creatures for help in time of trouble but to subject oneself and endure, humbly to wait for help, and to hope in God. Of such there are few on earth.
Teach me the way I should go.
In the second of these psalms it was said (32:8): "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go," for it is impossible for man to find his own way in his life. The reason: He must become blind and must give himself to God in true faith. Faith, however, sees nothing, and the way is dark. Of this Ps. 18:9 says: "Thick darkness was under his feet." Hence those who follow the light of reason and go no farther than they consider right, godly, and good are horses and asses. What seems different to them—such as things of faith—from this they flee.
For to Thee I lift up my soul.
That is, I am already surrendered and given over to Thy will. God can teach and lead those who turn their souls over to Him and permit themselves to be led. He cannot lead those who draw their souls within themselves and hide them. Hence it should be understood that the words "lift up the soul to God" mean "to offer up the soul," for the sacrifices in the Law were lifted up toward God. So the meaning is this: "I offer up to Thee not silver and gold, not calves or sheep, but my heart and soul, which in Thy judgment are the only real sacrifices." Thus Prov. 23:26: "Son, give me your heart." The heart, the very core—that is what God wants.
This verse is a great and most useful prayer, that a man can say to his God: "Behold, take my heart, and lead me according to Thy will. I surrender myself wholly to Thee."
9. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies!
The enemies are the wise and holy ones. May they not overwhelm me and draw me from Thee to themselves, as in Ps. 19:13: "If the strangers do not have dominion over me, I shall be blameless." For, as already said, the enemies of the righteous are trying only to mislead them and clutch them to themselves, into their way of life, which seems to them to be the only right one. Therefore God's protection and help are necessary, that they may stand firm in persecution. Thus the Jews treated the - 89 apostles, for with all their attacks they had no other aim in mind than to establish their ways and customs according to the Law and to draw the Christians to themselves by force.
I have fled to Thee for refuge!
10. Teach me to do Thy will!
My enemies need neither Thee nor Thy doctrine. Hence they do not flee to Thee. In fact, they teach and tell me what I should do; they want to be schoolmasters of all, while it is all a wicked deception.
Therefore preserve me and deliver me from them, and be Thou my master. Thus Ps. 120:2 says:
"Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips," that is, from false doctrine and cunning tongues which teach error under the guise of truth. Today, too, there are countless such preachers in Christendom, and only a few who preach the real truth.
That is, I do not make an idol of my wisdom and righteousness, as my enemies do; but I cling to Thy grace and receive from Thee wisdom and righteousness, which are found in Thee and abide forever.
Let Thy good Spirit lead me on a level path.
Do not permit them or any man to lead me, for they lead me on a crooked path. And Thy spirit, the evil one, leads them. Here it must be noted that both spirits are God's, the good and the evil. The evil one God gives to the proud in heart, as it is written of Saul (1 Sam. 16:14) that the evil spirit from the Lord ruled him, namely, the angry, raging spirit, with which they fight for their right and truth, and pursue those who are good, as we read in Rom. 11:8: "God has given them a prickly spirit." The good
Spirit is the Holy Spirit. He creates gentle, kind, and good hearts, which walk the right path, on which they seek God in all things and not themselves.
11. For Thy names sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
That is, that Thy name may be honored. God's name is honored when men declare that He gives life and righteousness by grace without merit. Then one can say: God is kind, gracious, merciful. These are
His names that are to be praised. But the self-righteous honor their own names. They want to have life through their own righteousness. Therefore they despise the righteousness of God, which He grants the sinner by grace and by which He makes him alive in His freely given righteousness and in His truth.
In Thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
He not only prays to be preserved in the face of his enemies, those who consider themselves great in their righteousness, but also to be led out from among them at last. For although the righteous are preserved among their enemies, yet they are like captives among them until they are brought out from them, or the enemies are converted. This God would do because of His righteousness, not that He seeks
His own honor in this deliverance but that men may learn how God establishes the righteousness of faith in opposition to works.
12. And in Thy steadfast love cut off my enemies.
That is, on account of Thy mercy and grace, so that it may be praised and acknowledged. My enemies are always opposed to this praise and acknowledgment, for they praise their own righteousness and make much of their own wisdom.
Destroy all my adversaries.
These are the same self-conceited people who seek to trap the souls of the righteous in their snare and error, as is written in Ps. 124:7: "The snare is broken, and we have escaped!"
For I am Thy servant.
I live in grace. Therefore my whole life serves Thee, not myself; for I seek not myself but Thee and Thine. Those who live in their own righteousness cannot do this. They serve themselves and look for their own welfare in all things.
Now someone might say to me: "Can't you ever do anything but speak only about the righteousness, wisdom, and strength of God rather than of man, always expounding Scripture from the standpoint of God's righteousness and grace, always harping on the same string and singing the same old song?" To this I answer:
Let each one look to himself. As for me, I confess: Whenever I found less in the Scriptures than Christ, I was never satisfied; but whenever I found more than Christ, I never became poorer. Therefore it seems to me to be true that God the Holy Spirit does not know and does not want to know anything
- 90 besides Jesus Christ, as He says of Him (John 16:13–14): "He will glorify Me; He will not speak of Himself, but He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
Christ is God's grace, mercy, righteousness, truth, wisdom, power, comfort, and salvation, given to us by God without any merit on our part. Christ, I say, not as some express it in blind words,
"causally,"29 that He grants righteousness and remains absent Himself, for that would be dead. Yes, it is not given at all unless Christ Himself is present, just as the radiance of the sun and the heat of fire are not present if there is no sun and no fire.
Now there are some who think lightly of these words of grace and arrogantly say: "Who does not know that without grace there is no good in us?" They insist they know all this very well. In fact, if you ask them whether they think little of their own righteousness, they are quick to say: "Of course, I am certain of that!"
It is indeed grave and wretched blindness that they consider themselves to have attained the highest degree of perfection when they have not even understood or tasted the lowest grade. For who can be prouder than the person who has the presumption to claim that he is free of all pride and evil inclination?
Spiritual pride is the last and deepest vice, since they are not yet free from carnal and human inclinations.
No saint has ever been so bold as to claim that his righteousness and wisdom meant nothing to him.
They are steeped in strife and are always at war among themselves about these things.
Now these come with the deceptive argument: "Yes, but the inclination is not a mortal sin."30 They insist that they are not blind but know very well which are daily sins and which are deadly sins, and in this blindness they practically sit in the judgment seat of Christ. It is true that daily sins do not damn.
But they are not "daily" sins by their nature; it is only because by grace God looks upon them as "daily." However, He does this only in the case of those who do not underrate them.
For this reason it is dangerous to speak about "daily" sins if one does so to gain a feeling of security and false comfort. This leads to striving against the fear of God and to secret contempt for the judgment of God. For if man must give account on the Last Day of every idle word (Matt. 12:36), who will be so bold as not to shun daily sins with fear, to weep over them, and then with humble awe to long earnestly for grace and mercy?
Dedicated to Queen Mary of Hungary To Her Noble Majesty, the Lady Mary, born Queen of Spain, etc., Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, etc., My Most
GRACE and comfort from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. At the suggestion of some pious people, Most Gracious Queen, I had intended to dedicate these four psalms to you to urge that Your Royal Majesty cheeerfully and joyfully persevere in your encouragement of the holy Word of God in Hungary. For I had received the good news that Your Royal Majesty was inclined toward the Gospel, but that you were being severely restrained and held back by the wicked bishops, who are said to be powerful in Hungary and to be in the majority. In fact, they have even ordered the shedding of innocent blood and have raged furiously against the truth of God. But meanwhile, unfortunately, the situation has been changed, by the power and providence of God. The Turk has brought on this misery and sorrow, and the noble young King Louis, Your Majesty's dear husband, has been struck down.1 Therefore my intention also had to be revised. If the bishops had permitted the Gospel to run its course, the whole