An Ever Happy Life
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
PSALM 23:1
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An Ever Happy Life
Whenever God's Word is preached properly and purely, it creates as many good things and results as the prophet here gives it names. To those that hear it diligently and seriously—and they are the only ones whom our Lord acknowledges as His sheep—it is pleasant green grass, a cool draught, by which the sheep of the Lord are satisfied and refreshed. It keeps them in the paths of righteousness and preserves them from suffering misfortune and harm. And it is to them an ever happy life, in which food and drink and all kinds of joy and pleasure abound. In other words: these sheep of the Lord are not only instructed and guided, refreshed, strengthened, and comforted by God's Word, but they are also continuously kept on the right path, protected in body and soul in all kinds of distress, and finally they conquer and overcome all tribulation and sorrow, of which they must endure only as much as verse four mentions. In short, they live in complete safety as men whom no sorrow can befall, because their Shepherd tends and protects them.
From Commentary on Psalm 23 (Luther's Works 12:148-49)
March 20
PSALM 23:1
+
An Ever Happy Life
Whenever God's Word is preached properly and purely, it creates as many good things and results as the prophet here gives it names. To those that hear it diligently and seriously—and they are the only ones whom our Lord acknowledges as His sheep—it is pleasant green grass, a cool draught, by which the sheep of the Lord are satisfied and refreshed. It keeps them in the paths of righteousness and preserves them from suffering misfortune and harm. And it is to them an ever happy life, in which food and drink and all kinds of joy and pleasure abound. In other words: these sheep of the Lord are not only instructed and guided, refreshed, strengthened, and comforted by God's Word, but they are also continuously kept on the right path, protected in body and soul in all kinds of distress, and finally they conquer and overcome all tribulation and sorrow, of which they must endure only as much as verse four mentions. In short, they live in complete safety as men whom no sorrow can befall, because their Shepherd tends and protects them.
From Commentary on Psalm 23 (Luther's Works 12:148-49)
March 20
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