Nielsen’s Nook

Behold, Lord
An empty vessel that needs
to be filled.
My Lord, fill it
I am weak in the faith;
Strengthen me.
I am cold in love;
Warm me and make me fervent,
That my love may go out
to my neighbor…
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and
trust in you…
With me, there is an
abundance of sin;
In You is the fullness of
righteousness.
Therefore I will remain
with You,
Whom I can receive,
But to Whom I may not give.

Martin Luther

For the human heart trusts goods at hand but mistrusts those not at hand, as the saying goes: “Having gold makes men bold; being poor makes them sour.” But trust in wealth cannot rule in the heart at the same time with faith and love. And this he calls here “to forget the Lord God.” For you do not remember the Lord if you merely mouth His name, but if you cling to Him and love Him with constant faith in your heart.

Martin Luther. Luther’s Works, Vol. 9 : Lectures on Deuteronomy, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1960), 71.

This is a fine meditation for those who would understand the gravity of their sin and the magnanimity of their savior.

From Psalm 130, written by Martin Luther (1523), melody by Martin Luther (1524).

From the depths of woe I raise to thee
the voice of lamentation;
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me
and hear my supplication:
if thou iniquities dost mark,
our secret sins and misdeeds dark,
O who shall stand before thee?

To wash away the crimson stain,
grace, grace alone availeth;
our works, alas! are all in vain;
in much the best life faileth:
no man can glory in thy sight,
all must alike confess thy might,
and live alone by mercy.

Therefore my trust is in the Lord,
and not in my own merit;
on him my soul shall rest, his Word
upholds my fainting spirit:
his promised mercy is my fort,
my comfort and my sweet support;
I wait for it with patience.

What though I wait the live-long night,
and not in mine own merit;
my heart still trusteth in his might;
it doubteth not nor feareth:
do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
ye of the Spirit born indeed;
and wait till God appeareth.

Though great our sins and sore our woes,
his grace much more aboundeth;
his helping love no limit knows,
our utmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is he,
who will at last his Israel free
from all their sins and sorrow.

Psalm 70:4-5 (ESV)
⁴ May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
⁵ But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!

My burden in preaching the Gospel of Jesus to His Church is one which, I hope and think, recognizes that there are different facets of this marvelous gospel which need to be applied differently at different times in the history of redemption. At least in the circles in which I find myself ministering, I find that people are often consumed with a false guilt; often the result of well intended and yet ever destructive fundamentalism. On the other hand, I have found that in wanting to communicate the biblical doctrine of “total depravity”, the idea that there is no aspect of human existence that has not been polluted by sin,[1] I have found that parishioners often will get stuck there. In other words, it is true that Christ comes to us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2); however, may it never be that the deadness of the “old man”, as Paul terms our pre-salvation state, eclipses the fact that Christ has made everything new (2 Cor 5:17)!

We have forgotten that God has bound himself to us in Christ by way of covenant. We have overlooked the dignity that this communicates to us as Christians who are in covenant with God. It speaks to our destiny, for He has saved us – not just to say that we are saved – but to deliver us into His likeness, which is found in Christ alone. Nevertheless, Christians who are attuned to the realities of this world also know the bitterness of stumbling in the midst of our procession with Christ to the end of days. Commenting on John 6:56, Luther writes:

Outwardly Christians stumble and fall from time to time. Only weakness and shame appear on the surface, revealing that the Christians are sinners who do that which displeases the world. Then they are regarded as fools, as Cinderellas, as footmats for the world, as damned, impotent, and worthless people. But this does not matter. In their weakness, sin, folly, and frailty there abides inwardly and secretly a force and power unrecognizable by the world and hidden from its view, but one which, for all that, carries off the victory; for Christ resides in them and manifests Himself to them. I have seen many of these who, externally, tottered along very feebly; but when it came to the test and they faced the court, Christ bestirred Himself in them, and they became so staunch that the devil had to flee.^[2]

It is precisely in this poverty that we find the wealth of Christ, our deliverer, who does in fact bestir himself in His people. It is this God to whom we make the petition, the plea, “I am poor and needy; hasten to me!… Do not delay!” The marvel is that he does hasten to us in perfect time. Luther expresses his own reflections on the figures of speech (tropology is the study of such figures) used in Psalm 70:4 when he writes that such figures speak:

First, against the vices and sins of the past, lest they lead you to despair. Second, against the reviling of the lust of the flesh and its works. Third, against the attractions of the world and the promptings of the devil, lest they prevail over you, but that you may persevere in hope and faith, in grace and union with Christ.

Say: “Lord God, be pleased to deliver me.” For this prayer is the shield, spear, thunderbolt, and defense against every attack of fear, presumption, lukewarmness, security, etc., which are especially dominant today, as was said above. 

Then, so that you might be able to prevail over them, and this quickly, to destroy such evil impulses, add: “Lord, make haste to help me.” For haste is necessary to drive them away, especially in our age of defects, security, and lukewarmness.

Then continue: “Let them be confounded and ashamed,” that is, that their every reproach be revealed to me to be false and foolish, namely, of past sins for despair, of the world for sins of the flesh, etc., so that in this way I might see that these confound the spirit if they are followed. Then let the proud ideas about my own holiness, the impulses of being alone, as though I were making much progress, be turned backward, so that I may see that they are nothing and blow me up from nothing and falsely suggest to me that I have made progress, and thereby wish evil for me, so that, the more they make me seem to be better than others, the worse I fall.^[3]

May God have mercy on us, that we would not be lukewarm in our relentless pursuit of Christ. That pursuit is driven by the cylinder of faith and repentance, churning up and down, two sides of the same coin. For when we stumble in faith we repent and when we find victory in faith we cry out for meekness and humility. Lord have mercy. Deliver us. Do not delay.

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^[1] N.B. This is not to be confused with the misunderstood version of this teaching that would say that people are as bad as they might possibly be. Such “utter depravity” is not the “total depravity” of Calvin.^[2] Martin Luther, vol. 23, Luther’s Works, Vol. 23 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 6-8, ( ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan et al.;, Luther’s Works Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1959), 23:146.

^[3] Martin Luther, vol. 10, Luther’s Works, Vol. 10 : First Lectures on the Psalms I: Psalms 1-75, ( ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan et al.;, Luther’s Works Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1974), 10:391.