menu_book Chapter 31

Psalm 91, Sermon 1, Part 1 of Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Volume 4. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Volume 4, Psalms 76-101 by St. Augustine of Hippo. Psalm 91, First Sermon

This psalm is that from which the devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us therefore attend to it that, thus armed, we may be enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in ourselves, but in him who before us was tempted, that we might not be overcome when tempted. Temptation to him was not necessary.

The temptation of Christ is our learning, but if we listen to his answers to the devil in order that when we ourselves are tempted, we may answer in like manner, we are then entering through the gate,

as you have heard it read in the Gospel. For what is it to enter by the gate? To enter by Christ, whom himself said, I am the door, John 10, 7, and to enter through Christ

is to imitate His ways. And how are we to imitate the ways of Christ? Are we to imitate Him in the glorious power which He had as God in the flesh? Is it to this that He exhorts us,

this that He requires of us, that we should work such miracles as He wrought? Or does not our Lord Jesus Christ, both now and evermore, govern the universe with the Father?

Is it to govern heaven and earth and all that are in them? with him that he calls man, or that man too may become a creator, through whom all things may be created as all things were through Christ. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ invites you neither to those works which he did from the beginning, of which it is written,

by him all things were made, John 1, 3, nor to those things which he performed on earth. He tells you not this, Thou shalt not be my disciple unless thou hast walked upon the waves, or raised him who was four days dead, or opened the eyes of the born blind. Not this either. What is it then to enter by the door? Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Matthew 11, 29. What he became on thy account, that thou shouldest attend to in him, that thou mayest

imitate him. Even before he was born of Mary, he wrought miracles, for whoever worked them, except he of whom it is said, he only doeth wondrous things. Psalm 72, 18. For it was by his power that those who in former days worked miracles were enabled to do so. By the power of Christ, Elias raised the dead. Unless indeed we are to suppose Peter greater than Christ, because Christ with his voice raised the sick, while when Peter was passing by, the sick were brought out to

be touched by his shadow. And yet, can it be said that Peter is more mighty than Christ? Why then had Peter such power, because Christ was in Peter. Hence our Savior's words, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, John 10, 8, meaning that those who came on a mission of their own were not sent by me. They came without me. I was not in them, nor did I introduce them. All the miracles therefore wrought either by his predecessors or his successors

were the work of the same Lord Jesus Christ who performed miracles when he was himself present. Neither then does he exhort us to imitate those miracles which he worked before he became man, but he urges us to imitate him in those works which he could not have done had he not been made man. For how could he endure sufferings unless he had become a man? How could he otherwise have died, been crucified, been humbled? Thus then do thou, when thou sufferest the troubles of this world,

which the devil, openly by men or secretly, as in Job's case, inflicts. Be courageous, be of longsuffering. Thou shalt dwell under the defense of the Most High, as this psalm expresses it. For if thou depart from the help of the Most High, without strength to aid thyself, thou wilt fall. For many men are brave when they are enduring persecution from men and see them openly rage against themselves, imagining they are then imitating the sufferings of Christ in case men

openly persecute them. But if assailed by the hidden attack of the devil, they believe they are not being crowned by Christ. Never fear when thou dost imitate Christ. For when the devil tempted our Lord, there was no man in the wilderness. He tempted him secretly, but he was conquered, and conquered too when openly attacking him. This do thou, if thou wishest to enter by the door, when the enemy secretly assails thee, when he asks for a man, that he may do him some hurt

by bodily troubles, by fever, by sickness, or by any other bodily sufferings, like those of Job. He saw not the devil, yet he acknowledged the power of God. He knew the devil had no power against him unless from the Almighty Ruler of all things he received that power. The whole glory he gave to God, power to the devil he gave not. For when the devil robbed him of all things, these were his words. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Job 1, 21. He said not,

The Lord gave, and the devil hath taken away. Since the devil could have taken nothing from him had not the Lord permitted him. And for this cause God allowed him that the man might be tried, and the devil conquered. When he struck him with a blow, it was by God's leave. Even when from head to foot he was wasted by worms, not even then did he attribute any power to the devil. But when his wife, whom alone the devil had left, not as the consoler of her husband,

but his own helper, advised him thus, Say some word against God and die. He replied, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. If we have received good at the hands of God, shall we not endure evil? Job 2, 9 and 10. He then, who so imitates Christ as to endure all the troubles of this world with his hopes set upon God, that he falls into no snare, is broken down by no panic fears. He it is, verses 1 and 2, who dwelleth under the defense of the Most High,

who shall abide under the protection of God, in the words with which the psalm, which you have heard and sung begins. You will recognize the words, so well known, in which the devil tempted our Lord, when we come to them. He shall say unto the Lord, Thou art my taker up, and my refuge, my God. Who speaks thus to the Lord? He who dwelleth under the defense of the Most High, not under his own defense. Who is this? He dwelleth under the defense of the Most High,

who is not proud, like those who ate, that they might become as gods and lost the immortality in which they were made. For they chose to dwell under a defense of their own, not under that of the Most High. Thus they listened to the suggestions of the serpent, and despised the precept of God, and discovered at last that what God threatened, not what the devil promised, had come to pass in them. Verse 3. Thus then do thou say also, In him will I trust,

for he himself shall deliver me, not I myself. Observe whether he teaches anything but this, that all of our trust be in God, none in man. Whence shall he deliver thee? From the snare of the hunter and from the harsh word. Deliverance from the hunter's net is indeed a great blessing, but how is deliverance from a harsh word so? Many have fallen into the hunter's net through a harsh word. What is it that I say? The devil and his angels spread their snares as hunters do,

and those who walk in Christ tread afar from those snares. For he dares not spread his net in Christ, He sets it on the verge of the way, not in the way. Let then thy way be Christ, and thou shalt not fall into the snares of the devil. When thou wanderest from the way, there is a snare. On this side, and that, he sets his nooses.

On this side, and that, his snares. Among those nooses lies thy path. But dost thou wish to tread in safety? Turn not ever so slightly right or left, and let him be thy way who was made thy way, that through himself he may lead thee to himself, and thou shalt not dread the nooses of the hunters.

But what is from a harsh word? The devil has entrapped many by a harsh word. For instance, those who profess Christianity among the pagans suffer insult from the heathen. They blush when they hear reproach, and shrinking out of their path and consequence, fall into the hunter's snares. And yet, what will a harsh word do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with which the enemy entraps you by means of reproaches do nothing to you? Nets are usually spread for birds at the end

of a hedge, and stones are thrown into the hedge. Those stones will not harm the birds. When did anyone ever hit a bird by throwing a stone into a hedge. But the bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into the nets, and thus men who fear the vain reproaches of their calumniators, and who blush at unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the hunters, and are taken captive by the devil. Yet why, my brethren, do I refrain from saying what God urges me to say, and what I

must not pass unsaid. However you may receive it, God compels me to say it. Unless I say it, I fall into the snares of the hunters. For if fear of man's detraction hinder me from stating it, I am myself for fear of a harsh word falling into the snares, while I am admonishing you not to fear the words of men. What is it then I have to tell you? Just as among the heathen, The Christian who fears their reproaches falls into the snare of the hunter.

So among the Christians, those who endeavor to be more diligent and better than the rest are doomed to bear the insults from Christians themselves. What then doth it profit, my brother, if thou occasionally find a city in which there is no heathen? No one there insults a man because he is a Christian for this reason, that there is no pagan therein. But there are many Christians who lead a bad life among those who are resolved to live righteously, and to be sober among the drunken, and chaste among the unchaste.

and amid the consultors of astrologers sincerely to worship God and to ask for no such things, and among spectators of frivolous shows, will go only to church, suffer from those very Christians' reproaches and harsh words when they address such a one, Thou art the mighty, the righteous. Thou art Elias.

Thou art Peter. Thou hast come from heaven. They insult him, whichever way he turns. He hears harsh things on each side. If he fears and abandons the way of Christ, he falls into the snares of the hunters. But what is it when he hears such words not to swerve from the way? On hearing them, what comfort has he, which prevents his

heeding them and enables him to enter by the door. Let him say, What words am I called who am a servant and a sinner? To my Lord Jesus Christ they said, Thou hast a devil. John 8, 48. You have just heard the harsh words spoken against our Lord. It was not necessary for our Lord to suffer this, but in doing so, he has warned thee against harsh words, lest thou fall into the snares of the hunters. Verse 4. He shall defend thee between his shoulders, and thou shalt hope under his wings.

He says this, that thy protection may not be to thee from thyself, that thou mayest not imagine that thou canst defend thyself. He will defend thee to deliver thee from the hunter's snare, and from an harsh word. The expression between his shoulders may be understood both in front and behind, for the shoulders are about the head. But in the words, Thou shalt hope under his wings, it is clear that the protection of the wings of God expanded places thee between his shoulders,

so that God's wings on this side and that have thee in the midst, where thou shalt not fear, lest anyone hurt thee. Only be thou careful never to leave that spot where no foe dares approach. If the hen defends her chickens beneath her wings, how much more shalt thou be safe beneath the wings of God, even against the devil and his angels, the powers who fly about in midair like hawks to carry off the weak young one? For the comparison of the hen to the very wisdom of God,

is not without ground. For Christ himself our Lord and Savior speaks of himself as likened to a hen. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not. Matthew 23, 37. That Jerusalem would not. Let us be willing. She, when she abandoned her hen's wings, was carried off by the powers of the air,

presuming on her own strength when she was weak. Let us, confessing our want of strength, fly to the shelter of God's wings, for he will be to us as a hen defending her young. There is nothing offensive in the name of the hen, For if you consider other birds, brethren, you will find that many hatch their eggs and keep their young warm,

but none that weakens herself in sympathy with her chickens as the hen does. We see swallows and sparrows and storks outside their nests without being able to decide whether they have young or no. But we know the hen to be a mother by the weakness of her voice and the loosening of her feathers. she changes altogether from love for her chickens. She weakens herself because they are weak. Thus since we were weak, the wisdom of God made itself weak when the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us

that we might hope under His wings. Verses 4 through 6. His truth shall surround thee with a shield. What are the wings? The same is the shield. Since there are neither wings nor shield, if either were literally, how could one be the same as the other? Can wings be a shield, or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses. If Christ were really a stone, he could not be a lion. If a lion, he could not be a lamb. But he

is called both lion and lamb, and stone and calf, and anything else of this sort metaphorically, because he is neither stone nor lion nor lamb nor calf, but Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all. For these are likenesses, not literal names. His truth shall be thy shield, it is said, a shield to assure us that he will not confound those whose trust is in themselves with those who hope in God. One is a sinner and the other a sinner. But suppose one that presumes

upon himself is a despiser, confesses not his sins, and he will say, If my sins displease God, he would not suffer me to live. But another dared not even raise his eyes, but beat upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Both this was a sinner and that. But one mocked and the other mourned. The one was a despiser, the other a confessor of his sins. But the truth of God, which respects not persons, discerns the penitent from him who denies his sin,

the humble from the proud, him who presumes upon himself from him who presumes on God. His truth, then, shall surround thee with a shield. Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, for the matter that walketh in darkness, nor for the ruin and the devil that is in the noonday. These two clauses above correspond to the two below.

Thou shalt not fear for the terror by night from the arrow that flyeth by day, both because of the terror by night from the matter that walketh in darkness and because of the arrow that flyeth by day from the ruin of the devil of the noonday. What ought to be feared by night and what by day? When any man sins in ignorance, he sins as it were by night,

when he sins in full knowledge by day. The two former sins then are the lighter. The second are much heavier. But this is obscure and will repay your attention if by God's blessing I can explain it so you may understand it. He calls the light temptation which the ignorant yield to terror by night.

The light temptation which assails men who well know the arrow that flyeth by day. What are light temptations? Those which do not press upon us so urgently as to overcome us. but may pass by quickly if declined. Suppose these, again, heavy ones. If the persecutor threatens and frightens the ignorant grievously, I mean those whose faith is not as yet unstable,

and know not that they are Christians that they may hope for a life to come, as soon as they are alarmed with temporal ills they imagine that Christ has forsaken them, and that they are Christians to no purpose. They are not aware that Christians are for this reason, that they may conquer the present and hope for the future.

The matter that walketh in darkness has found and seized them. But some there are who know they are called to a future hope that what God has promised is not of this life or this earth, that all these temptations must be endured, that we may receive what God hath promised us forevermore.

All this they know. When, however, the persecutor urges them more strenuously and plies them with threats, penalties, tortures at length, they yield, and although they are well aware of their sin, yet they fall as it were by day.

End of Psalm 91, Sermon 1, Part 1 Read by Charles Zwick, Jr. January 2022