A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XCII.
_The prophet exhorteth to praise God, for his great works, for his judgments on the wicked, and for his goodness to the godly._ A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day. It _is a_ good _thing_ to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltry; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O LORD, how great are thy works! _and_ thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; _it is_ that they shall be destroyed for ever: But thou, LORD, _art most_ high for evermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; But my horn shalt thou exalt like _the horn of_ an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see _my desire_ on mine enemies; _and_ mine ears shall hear _my desire_ of the wicked that rise up against me.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the LORD _is_ upright; _he is_ my rock, and _there is_ no unrighteousness in him. This is a consolatory Psalm. The first six verses are full of the most sweet experiences of a heart rejoicing and triumphing in that incomparable treasure—a knowledge of the true and sure word of God, and of the promises of grace in Christ. It is the same rejoicing of heart as that of the apostle, when he, exulting in the Spirit, saith, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”
At the very opening of the Psalm, the Psalmist saith, “O how excellent, how sweet a thing is it to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High!” that is, O what is sweeter than to know God aright by his word, and by true faith; to acknowledge his infinite mercies; to give thanks unto him joyfully and adoringly, with every cord and string of our hearts; to proclaim and praise him unceasingly with a full heart and a full mouth; to triumph in his goodness; and to offer him the full sacrifice of thanksgiving! in a word, to worship him with that all high and all-true worship of the first commandment, which requires for its high worship, above all things, true faith, and such joyful exercises of faith as these; as if the Psalmist had said, ‘How precious is that worship of God! How acceptable unto God, how grateful in his sight, and in the sight of angels too, are all such sabbaths, such sacrifices as these! Though we saints, all the while, are said, by the world, to know nothing about worshipping God!’ All these glorious things are pointed by the Psalmist against false saints and hypocrites; who honour God (as they think) with cold hearts and lips, and tread all the while that high worship of the first commandment under foot; and yet make a great show of the name of church among them, and flourish in the sight of the world, and display much wealth and much power and greatness. But though they greatly flourish and prosper thus for a time; yet they at length perish and go to destruction: and, according to the word of Paul, “Their folly is made manifest unto all.”
But the godly and the saints, though thus exercised and broken with afflictions, flourish, nevertheless, like palm-trees, in the house of the Lord, and will flourish for evermore! Neither time, nor age, nor sorrow of mind, nor any afflictions, nor death itself, can root them out, or hurt them! But, both living and dying, and even in death itself, they live and bring forth fruit through the word of God, as Paul saith, “_No creature_ can separate them!” But fools, that is, the wicked and epicureans of this world, regard not these things, they will not hear or endure them; and of this sort we may see thousands of atheistical men in our day.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.