A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM L.
_The majesty of God in the church.—His order to gather saints.—The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, but in sincerity of obedience._ A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, _even_ the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God _is_ judge himself. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I _am_ God, _even_ thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, _to have been_ continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, _nor_ he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest _is_ mine, _and_ the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field _are_ mine. If I were hungry I would not tell thee: for the world _is_ mine, and the fulness thereof.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most high. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or _that_ thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother: thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These _things_ hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether _such an one_ as thyself: _but_ I will reprove thee, and set _them_ in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear _you_ in pieces, and _there be_ none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth _his_ conversation _aright_ will I shew the salvation of God. This Psalm teaches us, in the teeth of all hypocrites and all the worship of hypocrites, what is true worship, and which are acceptable sacrifices in the sight of God. For hypocrites consider their works, and merits, and sacrifices as of such high value, that they think GOD ought to acknowledge the benefit of their services; and they imagine that he has need of them. Whereas, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit declares with a loud voice by the prophets, what the true worship of God is; namely, that of the First Commandment: which is, to worship God, and adore him; and to acknowledge that we receive all things from his hand, and that all glory is due to him!
Observe, therefore,—there is here clearly expressed, in the plainest words, what is the highest worship of God; and what sacrifice is the most acceptable to him. And we are here briefly told, that the true way and road to God is, to call upon him in the day of trouble, and give him thanks for the infinite benefits which we receive from him; (as the last verse here sings;) for this is truly to “pay our vows unto God, and to offer unto him thanksgiving,” (as the 14th verse saith.) These are not those foolish monastic vows, and the like; but that highest of all vows, which the Decalogue and the First Commandment require; where it saith, “To-day have ye vowed unto the Lord your God: he will be your God:” that is, ye are made the people of God, that ye may have him for your God; and that ye may truly believe in him, call upon him, and cleave unto him alone. Of this those foolish hypocrites and self-imagined saints know nothing whatever.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.