Here’s a bit of Luther’s commentary on Psalm 118. Thank you to Dave Fleming at today’s Doxology Retreat for bringing it to our attention. These are a few good paragraphs to toss into your devotion and meditation today.
The LORD is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
Psalm 118:14
“What is worse, the devil takes your best works and drives and plunges them into your conscience as worthless and condemned, so that all your sins do not frighten you as much as your best works, which are really quite good, and you wish you had done nothing but great sins instead of these works. He wants you to disown them as not having been done by God, and thus to blaspheme God as well. Then death and hell are not far away. But who can list all the tricks by which the devil invokes sin, death, and hell? This is his trade. He has been at it for more than five thousand years, and he is a past master at it. That long he has been the prince of death. He has experimented and practiced thoroughly how to give a poor conscience the foretaste of death. The prophets, especially our dear David, have felt and tasted his power. For they certainly complain, teach, and talk about it as if they had often been there, speaking now of the gates of death, now of hell, now of the wrath of God.
Well, no matter when or how it happens, we learn here that the saints must wrestle with the devil and fight with death, whether by persecution or pestilence or other sickness and mortal danger. In that conflict nothing is better and more vital for victory than learning to sing this little song of the saints, that is, to look away from self and to cling to the hand of God. Thus the devil is defrauded and made to miss the boat. It works like this: I am nothing. The Lord is all my strength, as stated above. I am stripped of everything, of myself and all that is mine. I can say: “Devil, what are you fighting? If you try to denounce my good works and my holiness before God, why, I have none. My strength is not my own; the Lord is my Strength. You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip! If you try to prosecute my sins, I have none of those either. Here is God’s strength—prosecute it until you have had enough. I know absolutely nothing about either sins or holiness in me. I know nothing whatever except God’s power in me.”
It would be fine, I hold, if a man could forget about himself and mock the devil with an empty pocket as a certain poor householder mocked a thief whom he caught in his home one night. He said: “You silly thief, do you expect to find something here in the dark when I can’t find anything in broad daylight?” What can the devil do when he finds a soul so naked that it can respond neither to sin nor to holiness? He must give up all his skill, both to puff up sin and to decry good works. He is referred to the right hand of God, and he must by all means let it alone. But if you forget this prescription and he seizes you in your sins and good works, and you begin to argue with him, to observe and hear him, then he will shape you to suit himself; and you will forget and forfeit God, His right hand, and everything. (Luther’s Work, 14:84-85)
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read.
Lord’s Blessings,
Pastor Wolfmueller
Eyewateringly profound. There’s only one Luther.
Fact! You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip! Fact! My strength is not my own.
…if a man could forget about himself….. What a big “if”, but Jesus took all our sins so we certainly can “mock” the devil.
I guess that, if we could become empty of self, taking neither joy in the good that we do for Crist’s sake, nor sorrow for our transgressions, then this would be so. Since we are not able to become that self-forgetful, the next best thing would be to recognize that the good that we do, “it is God who works in you, both the “to-will” and the “to work” for His delight.” Therefore, we give glory to Him, or, in the case of sins, we confess to God the sin and receive the pardon, and thus take away satan’s triumph. Then we would have joy, either in the reality of Christ’s presence in us by the Holy Spirit or in the reality of Christ’s forgiveness and our continued sanctification by the Holy Spirit. That last option would seem to be more consistent with what Scripture says about us and about how we are to deal with satan’s attacks in either of these areas. Sometimes, Dr. Luther’s cleverness with a turn of phrase is just a little too clever, as this illustration would have taken me too much to unpack to get there.
“nothing is better and more vital for victory than learning to sing this little song of the saints”…..such encouraging words for our times! I was reminded of a song we used to sing in church years ago…”Jehovah Jireh, my Provider…your grace is sufficient for me! Thanks for the reminder!
It would definitely be best if we could stand before both satan and God naked and unashamed, but unfortunately, as Delwyn Campbell put it in his comment – I don’t think we are able to become that self-forgetful. Going back to the house analogy, we all seem to have those good works that we want to “put on the coffee table” so that when someone sees us, it is there on display. We also have those sins that we have shoved into the closet and hide-away inside our house rather than relying on Christ’s blood and giving them up to God. When the devil comes in, he sees the “coffee table” works that we account to our own strength and he will either “denounce my good works and my holiness before God” or manipulate them into the sin of pride where we say to ourselves that these works “are really quite good”! Just the same, that old deceiver with throw open the stinking closet door and accuse us of all those sins we tried so hard to hide away. “Just look at what you do!” Let me know when you figure out how to clean out the closet and clear off the coffee table and truly say “My house is empty. Here is God’s strength—prosecute it until you have had enough. I know absolutely nothing about either sins or holiness in me.”
God be praised! Thank you for sharing this Pastor Wolfmueller and for always being a faithful steward of God’s Word and loving shepherd of His people!
I wonder if Luther coined the phrase,”you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip’’?
My pastor told me that the devil stabs himself in the foot when he puts the squeeze on us.. The people who do not follow God faithfully is of no challenge for the devil. The real challenge for the devil is the faithful Christians. Where do and who does faithful Christians turn to in the midst of strife? God! The devil…. what an idiot!
Wonderful article. Remove the ego and empty the cup, be a reflection/mirror of God. I like the old parable from Lao Tzu that “before we can see our reflection in the water, the water must first be still”. Years ago my wife and I purchased a painting from the Amish in Lancaster, the scene is typical of Lancaster, PA; hills, simple home and barn with the saying above: “Let us be silent so that we may hear the whisper of God”.
Don’t remember how I first ran across your ministries,cross defense, Sunday drive home or Tuesday world wide bible study,but I feel blessed that I have. Now my wife Elaine told me about Wednesday-what-nots ….
Your style is easy listening and your content is law and gospel..Christ centered!
Now I’ll be praying for an empty house..Thank you for this Luther commentary.
Gods blessings to you and family.
I sure needed this today.