Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Nehemiah 6:1-14 Revelation 1:9-2:11

“Our Help in Time of Need”

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”
[Luke 5:31]

The physician is helpful and a welcome sight to the sick, but the healthy will pay no attention to him. This woman perceived her need, and for that reason she ran after that sweet fragrance (Song of Solomon 1:4; 4:11). So also Moses must come first and teach us to perceive our sins, so that grace may become sweet and welcome. Therefore, all is lost, not matter how kindly and delightfully Christ is portrayed, if one is not first humbled by knowledge of himself, and is not eager for Christ, as the Magnificat says: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:53). All of this is said and written for the comfort of the miserable, poor, needy, sinful, and depressed people, so that in all of their need they know to whom they should flee for comfort and help. Oh how it hurts nature and reason when, in destitution, she takes off, and leaves behind everything that she senses the opposite. May God help us in time of need and of death to such courage and faith!