In making these observations, Luther was no doubt thinking of the innumerable hours that he and other monks had prayed the Psalms in their daily offices, sometimes reciting them with little more heartfelt understanding than a mynah bird or parrot might have done. To do that, Luther felt, not only was wrong, but actually hardened the heart against the deeper meaning. It was, in some way, blasphemous to read God’s Word in this superficial way. One must bring one’s heart and one’s whole person into it. Even Satan in the wilderness flawlessly quoted the words of God to Jesus, which of course had
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