The psalms are divinely inspired works of art that point to the essence of our humanity. They give us language when we can’t form words of our own. For Luther, the Word of God is literally Christ and so of course he would have pointed to scripture as the solution for all things, particularly for comfort. As for today, we would deem it inappropriate to affirm such claims, but it would be appropriate to affirm that it points to God and is inspired by God. Scripture is not a collection of books to find easy answers but does give us a means to conceive our existence before God. It assures us that the fate of humanity is not in the hands of Kings, rulers, and the like but God. A God who comforts and helps even if the walls feel like they are caving …show more content…
They delight in stealing, robbing, lying, cheating, war, destruction, and disaster. If a powerful God did not check and restrain the devil, human ingenuity and might could not keep the peace and maintain government and authority for a single day. It is, therefore, not without reason that St. David urges men to thank God for temporal peace, authority, and government” (LW 14:52).
Later Luther even writes that comfort is the subject of psalm 118 and that God provides external help. That is apparent help,
“First, God plants this comfort in my heart. This is the subject of this verse, and later of verse eighteen. Next, He also supplies help externally and rescues me from trouble, of which the next verse speaks.” Concerning comfort he says: “The Lord is on my side, this, my cry has been heard” (LW 14:62).
“My cry has been heard”…. I read a study not too long ago that interviewed various groups who were rioting, angry, frustrated…people who were just at their wits end with the state of their existence. The study concluded that all groups really just wanted to be heard and therefore validated as a human being. Scripture affirms this fundamental desire. And scripture claims that we are not just heard but heard by the creator of the cosmos. God hears those who plead and protects them from all the nasty in this world. Note LW