主作我們的保障，直到世界的末了
上帝容許你的生命經歷高低起伏，和黑夜白晝。詩篇有許多地方就給了基督徒苦難中的力量，艱辛中的安慰。經文挺直我們的脊梁，讓我們忍耐中有盼望。
耶和華是我性命的保障，我還懼誰呢？
是的！即使在試探之中，上帝也賜下平安。但是他是這樣作的：上帝容許你的生命經歷高低起伏，和黑夜白晝。不會常常黑夜，或總是高峰，而是常有變化。一時黑夜，一時白晝，接著又是黑夜。我們從新舊約的故事中可以看到上帝就是如此治理他的教會的。
這被稱為上帝的能力：他不是這樣的保惠師，他不是把他的話語給了我們之後，就不再為我們作什麼，而棄我們於不顧。我們的上帝幫助我們，為要把他忠信的籌劃給我們，用他的話語作我們的保障，使我們不致因為軟弱而沈淪，反而腳跟穩固而站立。
當日子滿足的時候，在我們經歷足夠多的苦難後，他就在能力中降臨，將勝利賜給我們。
在苦難中，我們需要謀略得安慰和支持。在朝向末日的日子里，我們需要能力得勝利。這兩樣都是我們需要的。詩篇有許多地方就給了基督徒苦難中的力量，艱辛中的安慰。經文挺直我們的脊梁，讓我們忍耐中有盼望。上帝就是這樣帶領基督徒的。這是上帝的方式。若有人不知道這方式，他就不認識基督是甚麼樣的君王。——馬丁路德（《聖彼得和保羅日的講道》）（Erlangen Edition6:294f）
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Yes, God gives peace even in the midst of temptation, yet he does it in such a way that all the time you are going uphill and downhill and uphill again. One moment it is night, the next day, and then it is soon night again. It is not always night and not always day; it changes from one to the other so that at one time it is night, at anther day, and soon it is night again. That is how God rules his Christian church, as we can see from all the stories of the Old and the New Testaments.
This is called the power of the Lord, that he is not a counselor and comforter who, when he has given us his Word, turns away from us and does nothing more for us, but God helps in order to bring our sufferings to an end. If we are led into temptation, he gives us his faithful counsel and fortifies us with his Word, so that we do not sink to the ground from weakness but are able to remain on our feet. But when the hour comes and we have suffered enough, he comes with power and we succeed and gain the victory.
We need both counsel, to comfort and uphold us in our sufferings, and power to win through to the end. All the psalms give Christians strength in suffering; that is, they comfort us in our afflictions so that our backs do not break but we continue in hope and patience. Thus he leads all Christians.
That is God’s way. Anyone who does not know that does not know what sort of a king Christ is.（Sermon on St. Peter and St. Paul’s Day）（Erlangen Edition6:294f）
