You are My God – I Cannot Be My Own Master: Augustine on Psalm 143

[In the February 21 sermon on Psalms 142 and 143, I quoted from Augustine’s commentary on 143:10. As mentioned in a December blog post, we do well to interact with believers who are not our contemporaries, for they will often see in Scripture what we miss. I commend to you, therefore, these excerpts from Augustine’s comments on Psalm 143:5-11, based on this 19th century English translation. I have made some edits, updating the verb forms, generally replacing the cited Scriptures with the ESV, adding Scripture references, and clarifying some sentences. So I pray that you may profit from this 1600-year-old exposition! – Coty]

[Verse 5] In all the works of God then, and in meditation on all the works of God, [David] introduces grace, he commends grace, he boasts that he has found grace, the grace whereby we are saved without price…. Why do you boast of your own righteousness? Why lift yourself up, being ignorant of the righteousness of God? Because you contributed to your salvation? What did you contribute to being made a man? Look back then upon the Framer of your life, the Author of your substance, of your righteousness, and of your salvation: meditate upon the works of His hands, for even the righteousness in you, you will find, is the work of His hands [Ephesians 2:9-10]…. Turn from your own work, to His work Who made you; He fashioned you, and let Him refashion what He fashioned and you destroyed. For you exist because He made you; you are good – if you are – because He made you good.…

[Verse 6] And what did I do when I saw that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [James 1:17]? When I saw this, I turned from the evil work which I had wrought in myself, and I stretched forth my hands unto You…. Indeed, my soul is as a land without water to You. Rain upon me to bring forth from me good fruit…. I can thirst for You; I cannot water myself. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to Him [Psalm 42:2], save when He has come to me?

[Verse 7a] “Answer me quickly, O Lord!” For what need of delay to inflame my thirst, when already I thirst so eagerly? You delayed the rain, that I might drink Your flow. If then You delayed for this cause, now give, for my soul is as a land without water to You…. Let Your Spirit fill me, for my spirit has failed me. This is the reason why You should quickly hear me…. I am now poor in spirit; make me blessed in the kingdom of heaven [Matthew 5:3]…. But quickly hear me, O God, rain on me, strengthen me, that I be not dust which the wind drives away from the face of the earth [Psalm 1:4]. Quickly hear me, O God; my spirit has failed: let not my need suffer longer delay…. “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” [2 Corinthians 5:17]. Old things pass away in our own spirit, they are made new in Your Spirit.

[Verse 7b] “Hide not Your face from me.” You hid it from me when I was proud. For once I was full, and in my fulness I was puffed up. Once in my fulness I said, … “I shall not be moved.” I knew not Your Righteousness, and tried to establish my own; … but from You came whatever fulness I had. And to prove to me that it was from You, You hid Your Face from me, and I was troubled. After this trouble, … then I became like a land without water to You: hide not Your Face! … Hide not Your Face from me, because, if You hide it, I shall “be like them that go down into the pit.” What does “go down into the pit” mean? … He no longer believes in Providence, or if he does believe, he thinks that he has no longer anything to do with it. He sets before himself license to sin, the reins of iniquity being let loose now that he has no hope of pardon. He does not confess his sin…. “Hide not Your face from me or I shall be like them that go down into the pit.”

[Verse 8a] “Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in you I trust.” Behold, I am in the night, yet I have trusted in You, until the iniquity of the night passes away. For we have, as Peter says, “the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” [2 Peter 1:19]. He calls “morning” the time after the end of the world…. “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience [Romans 8:25] The night requires patience, the day will give joy.

[Verse 8b] But what do we do until the morning comes? For it is not enough to hope for the morning; we must … seek Him…. Since then we must thus hope for the morning, and bear this night, and persevere in this patience until the day dawn, what meanwhile must we do here? So that you will not think you should do anything of yourself to earn your being brought to the morning, he says, “Make me know the way I should go.” That is why God lit the lamp of prophecy, that is why He sent Jesus in the vessel, as it were, of the flesh…. Walk by prophecy, … walk by the word of God. As yet you do not see the Word as He was in the beginning, God with God [John 1:1]: walk by the Form of [the Word as] a servant, and you shall be conformed to the Form of God. “For to You I lift unto up my soul.” I have lifted it up to You, not against You. With You is the Fountain of life: to You have I lifted up my soul. I have brought my soul as a vessel to the Fountain: fill me, therefore, for unto You have I lifted up my soul.

[Verse 9] “Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, for I have fled for refuge to You.” I who once fled from You, now flee to You…. I think not here of human enemies. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. But against whom?… The rulers of this world, of this darkness, the rulers of the wicked [Ephesians 6:12]; against these you wrestle. Great is your conflict, not to see your enemies, and yet to conquer. Against the rulers of this world, of this darkness, the devil, that is, and his angels….

[Verse 10a] “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.” Glorious confession! glorious rule! “For You are my God.” To another I would hasten to be re-made, if by another I was made. You are my all, for You are my God. Shall I seek a father to get an inheritance? You are my God, not only the Giver of my inheritance, but my Inheritance itself [Psalm 142:5]…. Shall I seek a patron, to obtain redemption? You are my God. Lastly, having been created, do I desire to be re-created? You are my God, my Creator, Who created me by Your Word, and re-created me by Your Word. But You created me by Your Word [the Son], Who was with You: You re-created me by Your Word, made Flesh for our sakes. Teach me then to do Your will, for You are my God. If You do not teach, I shall do my own will, and my God will abandon me. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Teach me: for it cannot be that You are my God, and yet I am to be my own master. See how grace is commended to us. This hold fast, this drink in, this let none drive out of your hearts, lest you have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge [Romans 10:2]; lest, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish your own righteousness, you submit not yourselves to the righteousness of God [Romans 10:3]….

[Verse 10b-11] Your good Spirit, not my bad one, … shall lead me into the right land. For my bad spirit has led me into a crooked land. And what have I deserved? What can be reckoned as my good works without Your aid, through which I might … be worthy to be led by Your Spirit into the right land? What are my works? … Listen, then, with all your power, to the commendation of Grace, whereby you are saved without price. “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, You shall make me live.” You shall make me live. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory” [Psalm 115:1]. “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, You shall make me live in Your righteousness;” not in my own righteousness. Not because I have deserved to live, but because You have mercy. For I deserve nothing of you except punishment. You have pruned from me my own merits; You have grafted in Your own gifts.

The Foundation for a Thankful Heart

What leads to “spontaneous” gratefulness?

The middle of the night. Wakened – barely – by the sound of raindrops, I turn from my back to my side. My hand accidentally touches Beth’s shoulder. Resting it there, I pray, “Thank You, Lord, for this precious woman.”

The prayer was not the result of a logical chain of reasoning. It simply welled up within me in the moment. It was spontaneous in that sense.

However, if the same sequence of events had happened forty years ago, that prayer would not have occurred. So what has changed in me over these decades that leads my heart to thank God spontaneously?

Scripture tells us again and again that we must be grateful:

  • Psalm 52:9: “I will thank you forever.”
  • Psalm 105:1 (and seventeen other verses): “Give thanks to the LORD.”
  • Colossians 3:15: “Be thankful.”
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
  • 2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God … as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.”

Why are we to be overflowing in thanksgiving to God? Because He is the source of everything good:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17).

In particular:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Yet I deserve neither good gifts nor everything needed for life and godliness. Rather, I deserve the opposite: punishment from God:

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:10-12, 3:23, 6:23).

Yet in His mercy He shone the light of the Gospel in my heart, enabling me to see Jesus for Who He is (2 Corinthians 4:6); He laid my iniquity onto Jesus (Isaiah 53:6); and He therefore declared me righteous “by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

A gift! And how should we respond to gifts?

So salvation alone should lead to our giving abundant thanks to God.

Now, I understood the gift of redemption many years ago, and have thanked God for it regularly. That is the base of the foundation of “spontaneous” thanksgiving. But more layers were needed before such thanks would well up within me.

I had to see – and not only see but take to heart – that everything good in this world as well as anything good in me is the result of the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

I had to learn that apart from Him I could do nothing (John 15:5); apart from Him I could not succeed in any business or profession (Deuteronomy 8:17-18); apart from Him there are no beautiful sunsets, no glorious galaxies, no creative people; apart from Him there is no love, no hope, no joy, no peace. For the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), and when we display any goodness, we are reflecting the remnants of His image in us (Genesis 1:26-27).

When, through daily encounters with the Word of God over decades, the Spirit builds these truths in our hearts on to the foundation of redemption, we then thank God spontaneously when we notice a snapdragon in bloom, a chicken pot pie in the oven, or a loving spouse next to us in the bed. Spontaneously – but not so spontaneously. For the foundation was built up over many years.

So now I remind myself every morning and at every meal: This food, this day, this breath, even the ability to move – all of these are mine only because of Jesus. So I thank You, Lord, in His Name.

Do realize – I am not yet fulfilling Ephesians 5:20, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I must continue to grow in thankfulness, to God and to others. But I can look back forty years ago and say with John Newton, “Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be– I can truly say that I am not what I once was…. ‘by the grace of God I am what I am!’” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

You too can grow in this grace. Go to the Word. Ask the Spirit to lay this foundation. Remind yourself daily of these truths. And then open your eyes! Notice His gifts! They are all around you.