At All Times and in All Things
I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
PSALM 34:1
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At All Times and in All Things
Time is twofold. As Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 says fourteen times: "A time of peace, a time of war, a time of prosperity, a time of adversity." Therefore many bless the Lord at one time, namely, according to Psalm 49:18: "He will praise Thee when Thou dost well to him." At other times, however, when God has tried them as He did Job, when something has befallen them different from what they have in mind, they "thunder against the gods three hundred times with their mouth" [Aeneid v4.510]. But it is the part of Christians to say, "Praise the Lord, nights and days, light and darkness, and all beasts and cattle, praise the Lord" (cf. Psalm 148:3, 10). For all things work together for good to the saints (Romans 8:28), therefore God is to be blessed in all things. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. This happens whenever we say good and holy things. In them God is praised, as when we speak truth, wisdom, and goodness, because God is all of these. Therefore He says to Moses (Exodus 4:12): "I will be with your mouth," for the mouth of the righteous will ponder wisdom, which is God Himself.
From First Lectures on the Psalms, on Psalm 34 (Luther's Works 10:159-60)
May 5
PSALM 34:1
+
At All Times and in All Things
Time is twofold. As Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 says fourteen times: "A time of peace, a time of war, a time of prosperity, a time of adversity." Therefore many bless the Lord at one time, namely, according to Psalm 49:18: "He will praise Thee when Thou dost well to him." At other times, however, when God has tried them as He did Job, when something has befallen them different from what they have in mind, they "thunder against the gods three hundred times with their mouth" [Aeneid v4.510]. But it is the part of Christians to say, "Praise the Lord, nights and days, light and darkness, and all beasts and cattle, praise the Lord" (cf. Psalm 148:3, 10). For all things work together for good to the saints (Romans 8:28), therefore God is to be blessed in all things. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. This happens whenever we say good and holy things. In them God is praised, as when we speak truth, wisdom, and goodness, because God is all of these. Therefore He says to Moses (Exodus 4:12): "I will be with your mouth," for the mouth of the righteous will ponder wisdom, which is God Himself.
From First Lectures on the Psalms, on Psalm 34 (Luther's Works 10:159-60)
May 5
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