Selected Psalms III Quotes

“You will be subject when you know that you never suffer undeserved punishment but deserve much greater punishment. The proud are smug in their opinion that they deserve only blessing. Like Job, they are not afraid, because they rely on their works (Job 9:28). Therefore they do not stand in the time of trial; but, as Matt, 7:24 ff. said about the house of the foolish man that was built on sand, they collapse in a great fall and become worse. Accordingly, this fear is a great part of the cross in the whole of life and in all our works; in fact, it is almost the whole of the cross.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“You must die if you would live under this King. You must bear the cross and the hatred of the whole world. You must not flee from ignominy, poverty, hunger, and thirst, in other words, all the evil that floods the earth.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“But he also arranges the words in this manner that we may learn for our consolation and exhortation that we never suffer injustice without God suffering it first and more than we and that God the Father’s solicitude for us is so great that He feels our suffering before we do and bears it with greater resentment than we ourselves. Therefore we should refrain from a feeling of revenge but should rather have compassion on those whom we see dashing themselves to their destruction against a majesty so great; for not only are they unable to do any harm, but they destroy themselves horribly.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“Therefore the man whom the prophet here calls blessed is unanimously declared by the world to be the most wretched of all, as Isaiah looked upon Christ, the Head and Model of the blessed, whom he calls the lowest of all (Is. 53:3).”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“What recourse do we have but to be of mutual help to one another and to forgive those who fall, since we ourselves have already fallen or are about to fall?”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“God is both willing and able to help. He gives health, happiness, and salvation. You can depend on this.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“God is both willing and able to help.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“Through this experience Your Royal Majesty should learn to trust solely in the true Father who is in heaven, to find your comfort in the true Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who is also our Brother, indeed our flesh and blood, and to take delight in your real friends and true companions, the holy angels, who surround us and take care of us.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“The inner and hidden part of this wisdom is nothing else than knowing oneself thoroughly, and therefore hating oneself.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“It is God’s nature to make something out of nothing; hence one who is not yet nothing, out of him God cannot make anything. Man, however, makes something else out of that which exists; but this has no value whatever. Therefore God accepts only the forsaken, cures only the sick, gives sight only to the blind, restores life only to the dead, sanctifies only the sinners, gives wisdom only to the unwise. In short, He has mercy only on those who are wretched, and gives grace only to those who are not in grace.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“Those who think themselves wise and righteous cannot help but repay evil for good. For they persecute and repay with hatred and torture the true doctrine that one teaches them and by which, as it should be, one tells them that which is best and most useful. Besides, they slander and malign all who seek that good thing and follow after it. That is because this very good is not apparent but is under the cross, lowly, and hidden in God. But they refuse to become lowly in their life and appearance. They want to be somebody or want to rage and create havoc, and yet they think they do well. But it is real evil, and they destroy themselves. This the child of God avoids. Therefore they speak evil against him.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III

“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.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 14: Selected Psalms III