A Prayer for Body and Soul

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
PSALM 6:2
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A Prayer for Body and Soul
Be gracious to me, O Lord. That is, show me grace, so that I do not dissolve and despair in fear and terror. O Lord, heal me. That is, strengthen me; help me in this wretchedness. For my bones are troubled. That is: “All my strength and power passes away at the terror of Thy punishment. Since, therefore, my strength leaves me, give me Thy strength.” And here it must be noted that this psalm and others like it will never be thoroughly understood or prayed unless disaster stares man in the face as it does in death and at the final departure. Blessed are they who experience this in life, for every man must finally meet his end. When man thus declines and becomes as nothing in all his power, works, and being, until there is nothing but a lost, condemned, and forsaken sinner, then divine help and strength appear, as in Job 11:11-17: "When you think you are devoured, then you shall shine forth as the morning star."

From Seven Penitential Psalms, on Psalm 6 (Luther's Works 14:141)
January 28
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