A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XL.
_The benefit of confidence in God.—Obedience is the best sacrifice.—The sense of David’s evils inflameth his prayer._ To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, _and_ established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, _even_ praise unto our God: many shall see _it_, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. Blessed _is_ that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O LORD my God, _are_ thy wonderful works _which_ thou hast done, and thy thoughts _which are_ to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: _if_ I would declare and speak _of them_, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book _it is_ written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law _is_ within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha, aha! Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I _am_ poor and needy: _yet_ the LORD thinketh upon me: thou _art_ my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. This Psalm is a prophecy, and the voice of Christ himself; where Christ himself says, that he was heard in the midst of his sufferings, when crying and groaning in the midst of the agony of death. And it is also a beautiful example and consolation for the whole church, and for all the members of Christ,—that God will never forsake any of those that believe in him, when agonizing in the same manner, if they cry unto him, and call upon him in the midst of the horrible pit and terrors of death.
The great prophet David, and others like him, published forth Psalms of this kind, concerning the greatest and most important things of Christ’s kingdom and people: for the expectation of the Messiah and of Christ, was a very important matter among the people of God, and therefore David makes the person of Christ himself speaking. Christ here plainly says, that he is the one and only person who fulfils the law, and does the will of God. Here he excludes all others and their works. “In the volume of the book (says he) it is written of me.” That is, the promise of blessing and grace, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed, were concerning me, &c. Thus he rejects and abrogates the whole law, with all works, sacrifices, and forms of worship; because, by them, the will of God is not fulfilled. All our works and sacrifices, therefore, are rejected. Christ here saith, that he is the sole and only one who pleases God, and fulfils his will. By these words, therefore, he promises the New Testament; where there is no righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of faith, preached in the great congregation: that is, in the whole world, in all nations. There is no preaching of the righteousness of the law, which only makes men proud pharisees and hypocrites, who have not their hope fixed in God, or in the promise of grace, but in their own righteousness, false holiness, and legal hypocrisy.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.