You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
Psalm 77
1  I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2    In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3    When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4    You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5    I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
6    I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7    “Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
8    Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
9    Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
10    Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11    I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12    I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13    Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14    You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15    You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16    When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17    The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
18    The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
19    Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
20    You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
 
Devotion
This Psalm has a lot to teach us about what it looks like to wrestle with God in prayer and what it looks like when faith in God’s promises grips us.

In the first half of the Psalm, the psalmist is overwhelmed and tormented by despair. Luther believed it was from the psalmists struggles with his own sin. Whatever the source of Asaph’s struggles, it is clear that he sought help in the Lord by going to him at night in prayer.  It is not that the psalmist couldn’t sleep, rather he chooses to stay up so that he might take the things that are weighing him down and afflicting him to the Lord.  This is what our Lord Jesus Christ did as well, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death…” (Hebrews 5:7)

In verses 6-9, we see the psalmist wrestling with his doubts and fears. Had God forgotten him? Had the Lord removed His grace? Would he never again fulfill his promises?  Notice that it is faith that drives him to talk to the Lord like this.  In expressing his doubts out loud to the Lord, he would also come to see how his doubts are contradictory to the promises and power of God.


It is extremely important to notice the shift that takes place in the Psalm. The first half of the psalm is dominated by the psalmist talking about himself and his affliction. The second half of the psalm is dominated by his focus on who the Lord is and what the Lord is capable of doing – based on what God had done and the promises He had already kept.  Asaph gains courage and strength by recounting all the mighty and wonderful things that God had done for His people in the past. People who had suffered and were afflicted like he was! He knew that the same God who had done those things for His people was his God and that he would not be abandoned by the Lord amidst his own afflictions. Notice he meditates on the works of the Lord. He meditates on how powerful and truly awesome God is.  He realizes that the One True God is the Almighty One who is strong to save.

Luther says this about meditating: “Meditating is an exclusive trait of human beings, for even beasts appear to fancy and to think. Therefore, the ability to meditate belongs to reason. There is a difference between meditating and thinking. To meditate is to think carefully, deeply, and diligently, and properly it means to muse in the heart. Hence to meditate is, as it were, to stir up in the inside, or to be moved in the innermost self. Therefore, one who thinks inwardly and diligently asks, discusses, etc. Such a person meditates.”

When we are afflicted and despairing and meditate on God’s Holy Word, we are strengthened by seeing God fulfill His promises for His people. Most importantly we see that He fulfilled His promise in sending His Son to suffer and die for us.  When we realize this, our eyes are taken off or ourselves and our problems, and they are directed to how great our God is and what He is capable and willing to do for us.

The imagery at the end seems almost anticlimactic. We are led like a flock. But for the Christian, could there be a more comforting image? It calls to mind Psalm 23 and our Good Shepherd who even leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.  We shall not lack anything, and we have nothing and no one to fear.  The psalmist ends the psalm fully confident that his afflictions have met their match in his Lord, his faithful Good Shepherd. 
 
Collect
God of all comfort, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant the consolation of Your Holy Spirit to all comfortless and afflicted souls. Make us to be rooted and grounded in faith, armed with the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness, furnished with the helmet of an unwavering hope, and provided with the sword of the Spirit, the word of Truth, by which we shall triumph over all enemies. Amen. (This prayer is taken from Reading Psalms with Luther.)

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
​
Scripture
Psalm 27
1  The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
       The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2    When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
       my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3    Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
       though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4    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 inquire in his temple.
5    For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
       he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6    And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
       and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
       I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7    Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8    You have said, “Seek my face.”
       My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
9        Hide not your face from me.
       Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
       Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10    For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
11    Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12    Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13    I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14    Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
 
Devotion by Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann
If you experience the harsh and vehement attacks of the enemy, and they crowd against you, despising you as one who is not anointed, and on this very account they fight against you, do not succumb to these attacks but sing Psalm 27. – Athanasius
 
A psalm of David, written probably about the same time as the preceding one, picturing the state of mind of one who is persecuted ‘Without cause and longs for the blessings of the worship in the midst of the congregation. V. 1. The Lord is my Light, the only Source of all spiritual light, and my Salvation, He who saves him from the darkness of oppression and persecution; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life, his Stronghold, his Bulwark, his sure Defense, keeping his life from destruction; of whom shall I be afraid? The entire song has the ring of Paul’s mighty hymn of triumph, Rom. 8, 31-39. V. 2. When the wicked, the doers of evil and mischief, even mine enemies and my foes, those who oppose and oppress him on all sides, came upon me, approaching him with marked hostility, to eat up my flesh, as wild beasts eager to tear and devour their prey, they stumbled and fell, unable to carry out their object because of the protection afforded David by Jehovah. 
 
V. 3. Though an host, a whole army or camp of adversaries, should encamp against me, besieging him on all sides, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this, even in such a great extremity, will I be confldent, in spite of all that he would calmly trust in Jehovah, his Stronghold. Both the words and the tone of the psalm denote the holy and calm defiance with which all believers may await the attack of the enemies. 
 
V. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, in the midst of all these threatening dangers, that will I seek after, with a great desire: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, the Tabernacle of His presence, all the days of my life, in the delight of intimate fellowship with Jehovah, to behold the beauty of the Lord, His favor and kindness as revealed in the Word of His grace, and to inquire in His Temple, meditating upon the wonderful blessings of His mercy in the message of the Gospel. V. 5. For, because of the believer’s close communion with God, in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion, in the Tabernacle, where His almighty hand protects; in the secret of His Tabernacle shall He hide me, sheltering the believer in the safety of His tent; He shall set me upon a rock, the house of Jehovah being a refuge and stronghold beyond the reach of puny men. 
 
V. 6. And now shall mine head be lifted up, in the triumph of a certain victory, above mine enemies round about me, the fact of whose defeat places the believer beyond their reach; therefore will I offer in His Tabernacle sacrifices of joy, thank-offerings always being occasions of great rejoicing. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord, which the faithful Israelites were wont to do at the festival meal connected with their thank-offerings. At the same time David does not, even in the remotest way, rely upon his own strength, and for this reason the triumphant strain of confidence now gives way to an earnest appeal. V. 7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, calling loudly and emphatically; have mercy also upon me, that being the one safe reliance of the believer, and answer me, with a favorable reply. 
 
V. 8. When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, at Jehovah’s call to seek His face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek; the heart of the believer being attuned to the fellowship with Jehovah, it gladly answers His call, assenting thereto as an echo of it, happy in the knowledge that it pleases Jehovah if His children enter into the presence of God, in order to gain comfort, assistance, and blessings of every kind.
 
 V. 9. Hide not thy face (far) from me, veiling it from the prayer of the believer; put not Thy servant away in anger, thrusting him aside as unworthy; Thou hast been my Help, and the former mercy and love emboldens David to plead against rejection. Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. It is the cry of Jacob: “I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me,” Gen. 32, 26, a call which holds the Lord to the promise of His salvation.
 
 V. 10. When my father and my mother forsake me, the very nearest earthly relatives abandoning him who seems doomed to destruction, Matt. 10, 35. 36, then the Lord will take me up, receiving the believer into His care and protection, adopting him as His own child. V. 11. Teach me Thy way, the road according with Jehovah’s will, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, even, level, without pitfalls, because of mine enemies, since they dog his every footstep and are trying to lead him into sin, his fall at the same time heaping dishonor upon God.
 
 V. 12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies, to the destruction which they had planned against him; for false witnesses are risen up against me, such being the methods employed by the enemies in their persecution of the believer, and such as breathe out cruelty, their every breath being charged with violence. 
 
V. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, literally, “If I did not trust to behold the excellence of Jehovah -!” He leaves the sentence unfinished. for it is too hard to picture and imagine life without the sustaining mercy of Jehovah. And so David encourages himself and all believers in conclusion, v. 14. Wait on the Lord, firmly trusting in the revelation of His mercy; be of good courage, strong of heart, and He shall strengthen thine heart, rather, let thy heart show itself mighty. Wait, I say, on the Lord. With this confident expectation the prayer of every believer must be concluded; for the Lord will, at His own time, bring salvation in rich measure upon His children, here in time and hereafter in eternity.
 
Collect
O almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all dangers and necessities stretch forth Your mighty hand, to defend us against our enemies; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, world without end. Amen

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
​
Scripture
Psalm 115
 
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2    Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3    Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4    Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5    They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6    They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7    They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8    Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
9    O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
10    O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
11    You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
12    The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13    he will bless those who fear the Lord,
both the small and the great.
14    May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
15    May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
16    The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17    The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
18    But we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
       Praise the Lord!
 
Devotion
This Psalm very clearly teaches that though idols are incapable of offering any help, the one true LORD rescues and blesses His people. 

How often does tragedy strike and one of the first things we hear from unbelievers is the question, “Where is their God?”  This is the context for this psalm.  The unbelievers are mocking the people of God.  Tragedy has struck and they want to know why the God of the believers has done nothing.
Rather than getting into a debate the psalmist makes the good confession: “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.”  The one true God is free to do as He pleases.  This is contrasted to the idols that are made by man and therefore incapable of doing the simplest of tasks – seeing, eating, hearing, smelling, speaking. 

On this point Luther says: “You do not think that we have a God. Therefore you brag about your images which are visible, and you deny the true God because He is not visible. Nevertheless, He is in heaven. And He not only is there, but He is also at work. For He has done whatever He wanted. For He is indebted to no one, He is subject to no one, He alone is most high, and the only law He has is His own will. This is what it means to be truly God. All others do not do what they want, but what is permitted them.”

In the same way it will be with the spiritual advent of Christ, where the soul waiting for grace and peace of conscience constantly hears, “Where is your God? He will not come, because you haven’t deserved it. He does not hear you because He is righteous and hates the ungodly.” It is as that experienced man says (Ps. 42:5, 9, 10): “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why do you trouble me? Why hast Thou forgotten me? And why go I mourning, while my enemy afflicts me? While my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me, as they say to me day by day, ‘Where is your God?’ ” Behold, these are the Gentiles who say, “Where is their God?” And Ps. 3:2–3 we read: “Why, O Lord, are they who afflict me multiplied? Many say to my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in his God.’ ” Behold, how aptly the psalmist expresses the affliction of conscience and the temptation of despair! Therefore one must rise up against all these things and say: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us,” that is, “I do not seek either merits or demerits, but mercy and truth, that You may be glorified. This temptation of the Gentiles wants to force me to try to make myself worthy and deserving, so that I may proudly boast of my worth and merits, rather than of You. Therefore give glory to Your name that their mouth may be stopped.” It will be the same way near the end of the world, when faith is lacking and the faithful will hear the unbelief of many regarding Christ’s second coming chattering and suggesting despair of such an advent, saying, “Where is their God?”
Therefore, our God is in heaven. But, O Gentiles, who is yours? No one at all…”

In fact, those that worship idols become just like the very thing they worship. Think about that! Whatever you fear, love, and trust in above all things you actually become like that thing! The object of your worship, of your fear, love, and trust matters more than anything else! 

Luther says, “He speaks prophetically, in the first place, because they themselves will also become images and idols, not by nature, but by similarity, as Zech. 11:17 says: “O shepherd and idol,” because they are vain. A remarkable love of one’s own powers does all these things, a love which changes the lover into the beloved, as blessed Augustine says: “Love the earth, and you are earth; love gold, and you are gold; love God and you are God.”

Hence it happens that he who loves flowing things flows, and wherever the thing goes, the love follows and goes with it. Hence it happens that when money is removed from someone, the will of him who loves gold is captured at the same time. For he thinks himself captive and lost when his gold is lost, and found when the gold is found. Why? Only because his will has been made gold through his love of gold. If he did not love the gold, he would rather consider himself set free when the gold is taken away. So, similarly, in other things." (LW 11:399)

The one true God is not absent, but as the psalmist declares is there helping and blessing His people – no matter how things look.  Therefore, God’s people can trust Him.  He is able and willing to help and bless them. If we ever doubt this, we only have to remember that our Father sent His Son to suffer and die in our place. The cross is the clearest picture we have that God loves us and has not abandoned us.

 The futility of idols is revealed fully on the cross.  For which idol of man’s imagination could ever suffer and die on behalf of your sins?  The cross reveals the futility of the idols and the love and ability of our God to save and redeem you.
 
Collect
O Lord, You are the One true God, all others are idols that cannot and will not save us.  Grant us the faith to see idols for what they are, to repent of our worship of them, and to put our faith in Christ alone for our salvation; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord. Amen.

You can listen to the devotion here.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and (+) of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
Scripture
Psalm 91
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2    to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3    to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
4    For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
5    How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6    The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7    that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
       they are doomed to destruction forever;
8        but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9    For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
10    But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
11    My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12    The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13    They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
14    They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15    to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
 
Devotion based on the hymn All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night 883
All praise to Thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light!
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.

Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-ful day.

Oh may my soul on Thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The hymn commentary for today comes from Pastor Larry Peters as found in the Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns Volume 1. 

The echo of Psalm 92:1-2 is found throughout the hymn: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” Psalm 91 is an even greater influence on the hymn, and verses 1 and 4 are clearly referenced in the final two lines of stanza 1: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge.”

Stanza 2 reminds us that our rest is tied to a clear conscience. It is a confession of sins and a prayer that God forgive the sins of the day and enable to singer to sleep at peace with all things (Mark 9:50b; Job 22:21; Psalm 4:8).

Psalm 90:12 prays that we might be taught to number our days and apply them wisely. In the same way, the third stanza asks that we live as a child of God in a fallen world, set apart by Him for a new day of eternal life. Sleep is an oft-used description of death (John 11:11-12; Matthew 9:24). Here the Christian sees death as a sleep from which we are awakened by Jesus Christ to resurrection and eternal life. Note that in the last line, the Day of Judgment is an awe-filled day and not an awful, terrible day.

The fourth stanza is a prayer that we may rest our hopes and fears in the Lord so that we are prepared better to serve Him with all our strength and will in the morning.
Stanza 5 acknowledges the difficulty in sleeping when the burdens of this mortal life press upon us, asking that our thoughts may be of heaven and not of earth, of hope and not of fear. Often the themes for evening hymns seem somewhat out of place in a modern world where the work does not end with the daylight and where the night sky consists more of manufactured light than of a darkness pierced only by moon and stars – the idea in stanza 5 of being molested by the powers of darkness, for example.

The hymn ends with the stanza often called the “common doxology” (LSB 805), probably the best-known and most frequently sung hymn in Christendom. It was in these hymns that Ken wrote for morning and evening and midnight that the stanza originated.

Collect
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

​Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 


Scripture 
Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
    He leads me beside still waters.
 3 He restores my soul.
    He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.


4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
      I will fear no evil,
      for you are with me;
      your rod and your staff,
      they comfort me.


5  You prepare a table before me
      in the presence of my enemies;
     you anoint my head with oil;
      my cup overflows. 
6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
      all the days of my life,
      and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
      forever.


Devotion
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." 

In this one title, shepherd, is gathered together almost all the good and comforting things that we can say about God. This metaphor is one of the most beautiful and comforting and yet most common of all in Scripture. When it compares the Divine Majesty to a pious, faithful, or as Christ Himself says, a “good shepherd”, it is an image that directs our focus to the Gospel.

And by calling the LORD our shepherd it tells us that we are sheep who need a shepherd. It’s a confession of our sin and inability to save ourselves. It’s a confession that we are saved by the Shepherd’s grace and mercy alone because a sheep must live entirely by its shepherd’s help, protection, and care.

Sheep are a good picture of sinners because like sheep we are helpless and unable to save ourselves. A sheep is a poor, weak, simple little beast that can neither feed nor rule itself, nor find the right way, nor protect itself against any kind of danger or misfortune. Moreover, it is by nature timid, shy, and likely to go astray. When it does go a bit astray and leaves its shepherd, it is unable to find its way back to him; indeed, it merely runs farther away from him.  In other words, a sheep is a perfect picture of us because in our sin, we wander away from the Good Shepherd and put ourselves into all kinds of physical and spiritual danger. Wandering away and not following the Shepherd is a description of us rejecting the Shepherd’s voice – that is, His Word. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the LORD has laid on him (The Good Shepherd) the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53)

When you say, “The Lord is my shepherd,” no proper grounds are left for you to trust in yourself…it is to confess that He alone can save you from your wretched condition.

It is the function of a faithful shepherd to supply his sheep with good pasture and other related things, and also to keep them from suffering harm. Consider the Bible's descriptions of David killing lions and bears which is a picture of Christ defeating sin, death, and the devil for us.

A good shepherd takes good care not to lose any of his sheep. But if one of them should go astray, he goes after it, seeks it, and returns with it (Luke 15:4).  He looks after the young, the weak and the sick very carefully, waits on them, lifts them up and carries them in his arms (Is. 40:11) until they are grown and are strong and well. If the Lord is your Shepherd, then of course, you shall not want. You lack nothing!  All the necessities of this life are provided for you – physical and spiritual.

Chiefly, however, the Psalm speaks of the spiritual possessions and gifts that God’s Word provides you.So, you can confess: The Lord, who rules all the ends of the earth with His power, the fountain of eternal good, is my Shepherd and Guardian.  So long as I have Him, I am in want of no blessing; the riches of His fullness most completely replenish and satisfy me. The rest of the Psalm expands on this beautiful theme.

Let us pray:
Lord God, heavenly Father, in your fatherly goodness you have been mindful of us poor, miserable sinners and have given your beloved Son to be our Shepherd, not only to nourish us by his Word but also to defend us from sin, death and the devil. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us so that as our Shepherd knows us and provides for us in every affliction, we also may know him, and trusting in him, seek help and comfort in him, listen to his voice and obtain  eternal salvation; through your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. 

The 13th Psalm is a psalm of prayer against the sorrow or sadness of the spirit that comes at times from the devil himself, or at times from those who act against us. But prayer is stronger than all misfortune. This psalm gives us an example by which we certainly may be comforted and learn in every kind of calamity not to become anxious or downcast, nor let these troubles eat at our hearts. Instead we learn to turn to prayer, crying to God about all of these things. We know that we will be heard and finally be delivered, as James 5:13 also says: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray." This Psalm belongs in the Second Commandment and the First and Last Petitions, that we may be delivered from evil.  (From Reading the Psalms with Luther, pages 37-38.)

Psalm 13 

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
    light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
    lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.