Joy, I am prefacing this Psalm with this quote by Luther from Romans, because it explains how the Devil distracts us from the very righteousness of Christ. You will meet and be tempted by all four classes of these fools as you serve Christ in the Navy. Just remember that the sum total of being a Christian is hating ones' sin and believing that Christ forgives one of sin apart from any work. Please note that the desire to be rid of a particular sin must suffice sometimes, and this according to the wisdom of God.
(Romans 3:27) The devil, therefore, that master of a thousand tricks, lays traps for us with marvelous cleverness. He leads some astray by getting them involved in open sins. Others, who think themselves righteous, he brings to a stop, makes them lukewarm, and prompts them to give up the desire for righteousness, as Rev. 3:14ff. speaks of the angel of Laodicea. A third group he seduces into superstitions and ascetic sects, so that, for example, in their greater degree of holiness and in their imagined possession of righteousness, they do not at all grow cold but feverishly engage in works, setting themselves apart from the others, whom they despise in their pride and disdain. A fourth class of people he urges on with ridiculous labor to the point where they try to be completely pure and holy, without any taint of sin. And as long as they realize that they are sinning and that evil may overwhelm them, he so frightens them with the judgment and wears out their consciences that they all but despair. He senses the weakness of each individual and attacks him in this area. And because these four classes of people are so fervent for righteousness, it is not easy to persuade them to the contrary. Thus he begins by helping them to achieve their goal, so that they become overanxious to rid themselves of every evil desire. And when they cannot accomplish this, he causes them to become sad, dejected, wavering, hopeless, and unsettled in their consciences. Then it only remains for us to stay in our sins and to cry in hope of the mercy of God that He would deliver us from them. Just as the patient who is too anxious to recover can surely have a serious relapse, we must also be healed gradually and for a while put up with certain weaknesses. For it is sufficient that our sin displeases us, even though we do not get entirely rid of it. For Christ carries all sins, if only they are displeasing to us, and thus they are no longer ours but His, and His righteousness in turn is ours.
Preface: "To victory with instruments, a psalm of David." In this manner David here composed this Psalm as something inciting, stirring, and inflaming, so that he might have something to arouse him to stir up the devotion and inclination of his heart, and in order that this might be done more sharply; he did it with musical instruments. (So, Joy, remember that the true purpose of music is to serve and aid us in worshipping God, and not our own pleasure—primarily. God does give us all things to enjoy, but does not give them so that we might be carried away from Him by those things He has created for us.) For when we are challenged, God is soon aroused also. And therefore we learn from these words that whoever wants to arouse himself to devotion should take up the Psalms. Thus Paul admonishes (Eph. 5:19): "Addressing one another in psalms and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord."
Verse 1
When I called, Thou didst answer me, O God of my righteousness. The best way to life up the mind to God is to acknowledge and ponder past blessings. The setting forth of past blessings is the guarantee of future ones, and gifts received in the past offer the confidence of receiving them. On the contrary, the total sinking of the mind away from God down to hell consists in forgetting or failing to take note of goods received. So the apostle says, Rom. 1:21: "They did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him." The psalmist arrogates nothing of merit to himself. He does not say, "Since I did much or earned much in deed or with the mouth or some other member of mine." Therefore you are to understand that he lays claim to no righteousness, he boasts of no merit, he displays no worth, but that he praises the pure and exclusive grace and free kindness of God. He finds nothing within himself on the basis of which God should answer him. He only prays and keeps everything else quiet. Behold, this is the kind of person he must be who desires to appear in the presence of such great majesty as a worthy confessor and true "Jew." Such a person appears empty before the Lord in the best way, because he is empty for himself but full for God. He appears least empty before the Lord who appears most empty. The Pharisee was not like this. He did not thank God because the Lord heard him when he called, but as one who earned much, for he said, "I fast twice a week" (Luke 18:12). He was full, but, according to Isaiah, "full of vomit" (Is. 28:8). Would that he had been as empty and in humility as full as the tax collector was. He was full of truth, and he was not empty in the presence of the Lord. For the Lord heard him when he called and when he did not lay claim to anything.
If you have something, you should indeed confess it. But not as if it were yours. For "what have you that you did not receive?" (I Cor. 4:7). Therefore, if you would say to David, "Why do you mention only prayer and not also the fact that you are righteous and have righteousness?" he would quickly respond: "My righteousness is not mine but His who heard my prayer, for He is the 'God of my righteousness.' He heard naked me, who am nothing, when I called, and this not because of my righteousness, which is His and which I received from His hand. But if he is the 'God of my righteousness,' He is, then, also the God of all my good things."
Joy, what this means to you is this: When you put your uniform on, you should be quite afraid lest the pride and excitement of having such a worthy uniform take you away from Christ. Your uniform is just a mask which God provides you with so you can glorify Him and serve your neighbor. You should hate your uniform in your spirit, which is Gods, but humbly wear and serve in it in the flesh. There will be many around you who will find much righteousness and honor within themselves because they have a uniform. But the righteousness and honor which is from the Lord is exterior and alien to us. You must learn to grapple with this statement: Your spirit is the Lord's and your flesh is Uncle Sam's.
"In tribulation Thou didst make room for me." What great things He offers in adversity, and with what faithful love He sends tribulation! "In tribulation," he says, Thou didst make room for me." I understand this to mean, "You have provided broad spaces for me." But this is a threefold enlargement which God provides in tribulation: the first is that of education, for in tribulation one learns many things which he did not know before; many things he already knew in theory he grasps more firmly through experience. And he understands Holy Scripture better than he would without trials. For that reason it is called "the Lord's discipline"(Prov. 3:11). And a psalm confesses: "Thy discipline will teach me." And the wise man says: "What does he know who has not experienced trials know?" (Joy, what did you find out about yourself during the "discipline" of basic training? What will you find out about yourself during the "discipline" of nuclear school?)
The second enlargement is that of strength, for strength is made perfect in weakness, and a bent palm tree springs up more strongly, and strength compressed grows larger. Thus love, faith, hope, and all others grow larger in persecution, according to the word "their beginning has been strengthened beyond measure." "The feeble have been girded with strength" (I Sam. 2:4). Therefore just as this was extraordinary among the martyrs, so it was first in the holy teachers against the heretics, all of whom afflicted them, and will boldly manifest itself in the Last Days within those who content against the deceived generation.
The third enlargement is that of comfort and joy in the Holy Spirit. So the apostle says in 2 Cor. 1:3-4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction." And this belongs to the Holy Spirit, who is the Paraclete, that is, Comforter.
Thus the mind is enlarged through education and understanding, the memory, or substance or nature of the soul, is enlarged through the strength and vigor of grace, and the will is enlarged through joy and comfort. On the contrary, all of these are diminished by sin and error and sadness.
Verse 2
Sons of men, how long will you be with a heavy heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after lies?
Literally, he is speaking of the Jews at the time of Christ, and allegorically of all who imitate them. I certainly believe that when David was thus excited by the recollection of God's benefits and by the musical chant, as was evident in these verses, he received wonderful revelations in that very devotion. For that reason, caught up in the spirit, he then saw those "sons of me," and, wishing to anticipate them and summon them to the obedience of Christ, he rebuked their hardness, their "vanity" and "lying." For they had before them and in their midst the anointed Christ, the very Truth and Salvation, and yet they did not care anything about Him. But, as I have said, this whole psalm can be understood as if spoken in the person of Christ.
He says, "O sons of men." From this it is clear that our righteousness exists only because God hears and that there is no true consolation except in tribulation, and no progress and achievement except in a constant perseverance of this kind. "How long with a heavy heart?" "O faithless generation, how long am I to bear with you?" says the Lord (Mark 9:19). How long will you refuse to lay hold of righteousness and put away sin? It is righteousness alone that frees the heart and makes it light. And how long will you seek utterly vainly enlargement apart from tribulation, that is, a purely carnal and literal one? How long will you seek lies and hypocrisy, thinking that you have already achieved perfection and acting as if you had no need of mercy?
A heart is said to be "heavy" when it is subjected to any injustice. The root and first "heaviness" is greed, from which sprouts wrath, envy, pride, malice, deceit, and practically all the works of the flesh which the apostle lists in Gal. 5:19ff. But anyone of these is "heaviness of heart" and produces its own "vanity" and "lies", as we say. On the contrary, a light heart is a heart of complete righteousness with all its parts. It is clear enough why unrighteousness is called heaviness, for it does not let itself be lifted up to God, and it casts off the Spirit which is better than the less worthy matters beneath it. Therefore while that "heaviness of heart" stands, it follows necessarily that people love "vanity." Since they do not have truth and righteousness, and since the heart cannot be without love, it is necessary that they love not God but "vanity" (that is, something that only appears to be good). What "vanity is is taught fully by Ecclesiastes throughout the book. Briefly, it is comfort in the flesh and in this life, whatever that may be. Thus the Lord says, "Woe to you that laugh now and have your consolation here" (Luke 6:25)
Everything that is serviceable and useful to man without the fruit and blessing of the spirit is vanity, according to Ecclesiastes. For the spirit is the greater and more important part of man, eternal and immortal, whose blessings are true and eternal, while the flesh is lowly and perishable like hay which quickly withers (Is. 40:6-7) Hence in general whatever does not "work together for good" of the soul is vanity, because it fails in the flesh and does not attain to the good of the spirit, even though all things are designed to serve that end. And thus even "the creation was made subject to vanity" by vain man.
Vanity refers to any kind of unrighteousness whatever. For he who has heaviness of heart together with greed loves vanity, which is what riches are. But he who has envy loves to see his neighbor injured, and that for him is vanity, because it does not benefit him but even harms him. He who has wrath loves revenge. But this, too, is vanity. He who has heaviness of heart in the form of gluttony loves banquets. But is this not exceedingly vain? He who is burdened with luxury loves the pleasures of the flesh. Now, all these things are vanity, because they provide no benefit for the spirit and the true man. Nevertheless, "sons of men," because they are "heavy in heart," have nothing else to love, yet they cannot be without love. But observe how also in this verse the statements follow each other in a most appropriate structure, the one growing out of the other. Why do they "seek lies"? Because "they love vanity." Why do they love vanity? Because they are "heavy in heart." But why are they "heavy in heart"? Because they are "sons of men" (that is, born with evil lust and rendered dead and unrighteous in Adam, deriving a heavy heart from their being deprived of the first righteousness). Therefore the fact that they are born of men is the cause of their heavy heart; but the heavy heart is the cause of their vanity, and this, in turn, is the cause of lying. Therefore they must become children of God, and this will result in a lightening of the heart, which in turn results in the love of goodness and completeness, which in turn results in the search for truth.
This is what it means to "seek lying," namely, to seek the support of Scripture in a lying way. This is what the Jews have done and continue to do. This is also what the heretics have done. This is what the sons of dissension are now doing, where everyone twists Scripture to his own understanding. This is the dissension prophesied by the apostle (Rom. 16:17; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20), namely, the chilling of love, the death of peace, the devastation of faith, and the abomination of Christianity. These people do not follow the true judgment of Scripture, but after their desire (Phil. 2:21).
(Joy, the above lengthy explanation is crucial for you to read and read until you thoroughly understand it. When you understand it you will be an asset to yourself and to those around you. I know you already understand it spirit. There is an emptiness and vanity which lies within you and each of us that we seek to fill with everything except God. We are ALWAYS prone to this evil of filling ourselves with that which God made instead of God Himself. People look up to you, Joy. Some will listen to you as you explain to them how to avoid vanity and find the true value in God Himself. But they, as you, will have to give up their private opinions of Scripture and seek to be taught by Luther. I commend you to Christ, my lovely and courageous daughter.)
Verse 3
But know that the Lord has made His Holy One wonderful. The Lord will hear me when I shall cry to Him.
After the ungodly man will have sought his own lie and regarded himself as already right and true in his words and deeds, he will soon fall into blasphemies against the Righteous One by judging and condemning Him. And however holy, wonderful, and true His words and works are, they will ascribe them not to God but to the devil, because they have maintained that their opinion, which is the opposite of His, is of God. They say: "We know that this man is a sinner" (John 9:24) (Joy, this is why so many are upset with me, because they are hell-bent on having their own opinion of Scripture. They are like tyrants who will NOT allow ANYTHING to be taken from them. They are experts in the Word and insist on being the only ones who know anything—all the while accusing me of what they are guilty of. They are true hypocrites in whom the Spirit of God does not dwell.)
God made His Christ wonderful in a number of ways. First, He made Him do miracles and thus repudiated the Jews who denied that this man was from the Lord. Second, His manner of life was opposed to the whole world, namely, that He would flee what the whole world sought above all and would seek what the world fled above all. Thus in the first place "He made foolish the wisdom of the world" (I Cor. 1:20) by being Himself made foolish to the world; then "He chose what is weak" (that is, sufferings and punishments) "to shame the strong" (that is, agreeable and peaceful things); hence "what is despises and things that are not" (I Cor. 1:27), such as poverty, contempt, the cross, death, and in general every opinion and "wisdom of the flesh" (Rom. 8:6) and of the world. Thus He is the "holy tempt of the Lord," that is, His humanity, wonderful in justice" (Ps. 65:4f.) Third, He made Him wonderful in a superexcellent way in that He who alone is wonderful and the author of wonders made Him to be God. This is a great miracle, that the same person is God and man, dead and alive, mortal and immortal, and almost every contradiction is here resolved in Christ.
(Joy, there is so much to learn about Christ that one can never learn it all. He is truly inexhaustible. I forget what I learn more quickly than I learn it. But one must not fall into the trap of "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth"; rather one must fall upon the Truth of Christ, that is, "THIS IS MY BODY; THS IS MY BLOOD." True, one should seek to utilize the mind for Christ and learn of Him, but it is far more important to utilize the heart for Christ and partake of Him in true faith, believing that ALL human deficits are completed in His Meal. This completion requires only a soul that is hungry—that is oppressed by sin and seeking forgiveness and restoration ONLY through the babe in the manger, the humanity of Christ, His true Body and Blood in the Meal, the very Word of God come in the flesh.)
The Lord always "makes His Holy One wonderful" in the eyes of the ungodly in a way different from what they think, and they make a laughingstock of themselves with their own foolishness. Therefore those who judge him according to appearance do wrong and "outrage the Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29) and blaspheme Him. Now follows the fourth verse. In it, though the ungodly are always going toward the worse, the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, does not abandon them but always goes after them and admonishes them not to go too far, as is clearly evident from what has been said. For the first admonition was that they should not be "heavy in heart." Since this was not heeded, He adds the second, that they should not "love vanity." But for those who sinned against this, too, He adds the third, that they should not "seek lies." And for that reason He added the fourth, which was the greatest, in many words against blasphemy, into which they had fallen coming from the lie through their transgression of the third. Now He goes after them with a fifth admonition, that they should not be angry and not rage.
Verse 4
Be angry, but do not sin. Speak in your hearts, and feel remorse on your beds.
It is as if He were saying: "If you want to be angry, be angry with yourselves and not with this Righteous One." The Spirit is attempting to educate them in what is good. Now that he has shown the sons of men the true Savior, he next prepares them for true repentance and most beautifully describes it. And if you will take a good look, you will see that everyone who has begun to acknowledge Christ and the truth soon begins to abhor his own vanity. Hence he says, "be angry," namely, with yourselves because of what has gone on before. Thus he says through Ezek. 20:43-44: "And there you shall remember your ways and all the doings with which you have polluted yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves for the evils you have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for My name's sake, not according to your evil ways, for according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord God." Behold, therefore, when we have come to know our Lord God and the Holy One of the Lord made wonderful, that He has the power to hear and save, we shall quickly loathe ourselves. And this is what it means to be angry and indignant, to be inflamed and to burn with a holy wrath against vanity and lies.
(Joy, this last paragraph describes the primary life force of your father. I am ashamed and hate myself for seeking Christ in my own strength for so many years. I have confess this as abject sin, hypocrisy, blasphemy, and idolatry. I also hate it when I see it in others.)
"Be angry" means "you will have anger," and so is "feel remorse." Thus we are to cause ourselves to become angry, or receive admonition which is being given so that we may be provoked to anger. In a passive sense we are to know Christ and this anger. The instruction of the Spirit will teach you to be angry and repent, and I exhort you to do it and be angry, and this with reference to the past. But as for the future, "sin not," that is, "get yourselves a new spirit and a new heart," as we read in Ezek. 18:31. The old is wanting to sin, but the new is not wanting to sin. "Speak in your hearts and feel remorse in your beds. The meaning of these words seems to me to be that repentance should be done inwardly before God and in secret, not before the eyes of men for the purpose of vain boasting. So Joel says: "Rend your hearts and not your garments." Therefore "Speak these things," that is, say and speak and confess your evils from your whole heart and "in your hearts," not with the mouth like the hypocrites, who "honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from God (Matt. 15:18). You must not do this, but whatever you say (whether you pray, confess, praise, etc.), do this altogether in your hearts. This nevertheless does not rule out that one should also pray, confess, and praise publicly.
Verse 5
Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
That is: slaughter and cut to pieces and crucify and put to death the bestial and living members, so that they may not serve sin and for sin but that by the fire of love they may be completely consumed and changed into the spirit, so that they might serve the living God. This is what it means to burn the animals with a perpetual fire, as Romans 12:1 says: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God." Such is assuredly the sacrifice of righteousness "for a pleasing odor to the Lord" (Lev. 6:21). What else does "sacrifice" mean but to make sacred, and a sacrifice something made holy and offered and set apart for sacred purposes?
To trust in the Lord is to be in Christ, our God, and to share in Him and thus by being in Him to rely on the Lord. In Him and with Him and through Him we dare to hope and present every work. For "without Him we can do nothing" (John 15:35). Therefore, no matter how holy and righteous you may be, beware of ever relying on the Lord by means of yourself or on the basis of your own righteousness. But you can have hope in Christ, as the apostle argues, "through Him we have access and confidence." (Rom. 5:2)
(Joy, allow me to give you an example of how one may rely on the Lord by means of yourself. The Scripture says, "Seek the Lord." For many years I was impressed with myself for "seeking the Lord." The fact that I was "seeking" the Lord was a good work of mine, but it was my work and it should have made me tremble, as ALL our good works should make us tremble and shake lest we trust in them instead of Christ. God works all things in us, even our seeking.)
Verse 6
Many say: Who will show us some good? Lord, the light of Thy countenance has been sealed upon us.
This sixth verse again rebukes the pride of the Jews and all the self-righteous. They have now said: Who is this? "Would you teach us?" (John 9:34). "Are we also blind?" (John 9:40). "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" (John 8:48) Since, therefore, we are doctors and experts in the Law and people who know what is good, who is this that "will show us good?" That is to say: "There is no one, because we know, we are wise, we are 'not like other men' (Luke 18:11), and though he might show others, he will certainly not show us." And thus these words must be understood as uttered by them in arrogance and contempt. Because Christ told them to "serve in spirit" (Phil. 3:3) and do good and offer the "sacrifice of righteousness," they were furious and thought that He wanted to destroy the Law, just as they did in the case of St. Stephen. (Many think I am trying to destroy their religion by trying to get them to consider/submit to Luther's teachings.)
Therefore, having dismissed that proud and faithless generation (Matt. 17:17), which has been invited so often with many words and in many ways, as was clear from the preceding, and yet always shows contempt and says: "Who will show us good?" and thus receives everything with deaf ears, he turns toward the good generation and with it gives thanks, rejoices, and praises the Lord. And he complains: "Behold, I have invited them and wanted to gather them as a hen gathers her chickens, and they refused" (Matt. 23:37), and "many say," in fact, the majority say against the Lord: 'Who will show, etc' (I know I cannot "show" them anything good from Luther. They already are Master Smart Alecs.) We, however, are not like that, O Lord, but we confess to Thee that we need someone to show us the good, for of ourselves we do not see the good. But the light of Thy countenance (that is, faith, through which we recognize Thy face the Thy glory) has been sealed (that is, the sign has been made, but the reality is not yet there; for "faith is the conviction of things" but not the thing itself) upon us' (that is, from above; for 'every gift is from above,' and faith is above all understanding. This is the 'light' in which 'good things are shown to us'). Thus Thou wilt show us Thy face and show us every good thing. On the basis of this showing, which is done in the memory and the understanding, the will cannot keep from rejoicing, for every good thing delights the appetite, since it is its proper object."
Verse 7
Thou hast put joy in my heart. More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
"I am glad," he says, "because of what was said to me, namely, what was said by means of the showing of this light." And thus faith always has a companion joy in the Holy Spirit. Hence he says here "in my heart," that is, in my spirit, not in my flesh, which is the case with the ungodly, who love vanity. Thus all things are now safe in the Spirit, such as memory, understanding; for the "light has been sealed" with respect to the understanding, that is, the sign has been firmly impressed, and "joy" with respect to the will.
Verse 8
In peace I will sleep for this very thing and rest.
"In peace," that is, in spiritual peace, something that does not belong to the ungodly. This is a prayer in which the prophet expresses the wish that he might sleep with the saints in peace, namely, in eternal peace. Here "sleep" stands for "dying" and "rest" for the repose of the spirit. The flesh sleeps and the spirit reposes. The ungodly, however, do not sleep but die. And even if they sleep, they do not rest nor sleep in peace.
But more properly he is here prophesying about the death and burial of Christ. This is therefore the sense and the words of Christ: "In peace I will sleep likewise," that is, I will die in the peace of the spirit, "likewise," that is, I will also truly die like others, but it will nevertheless be "in peace," and "I will rest in peace," because My body and My flesh will not be consumed by worms.
For Thou, Lord, in a singular manner has established me in hope.
This was a "singular hope," for "His flesh did not see corruption" (Acts 2:31), and "His flesh rested in hope" (Psalm 16:9), awaiting the resurrection in a way much different from others; therefore "He has been established in hope in a singular manner." And from this word it is sufficiently clear that he is speaking about Christ alone. For though David would also sleep in hope, he would not do it "in a singular manner," but in common with others. All sleep in the hope of rising again, but this One "in a singular manner."
God bless you Joy.
Love, Dad
