Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Malachi 4 Rev. 22:6-21

“Lord God, Keep us to the End”

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
[Psalm 23:6]

Because the devil never stops tormenting the believers, inwardly with terror, or outwardly with wiles of false teachers and the power of tyrants, the prophet here at the end earnestly asks that God, who has given him this treasure, would also keep him in it to the end. He says: “Oh, may the dear God grant His grace that goodness and mercy might follow me all the days of my life and that He might soon make manifest what He calls goodness and mercy”, that is, that he might dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It is as though he would say; “Lord, you have begun this matter. You have given to me Your Holy Word and received me among those who are Your people, who know You, praise and magnify You. Continue to give me Your grace.”
And so, God’s children should wish to end the year, and greet the future, as did King David with these words of the Psalm; “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to visit in his temple.” [Psalm 27:4]