The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^4. What should you do then? “Trust in the Lord”. For they too trust, but not “in the Lord.” Their hope is perishable. Their hope is short-lived, frail, fleeting, transitory, baseless. “Trust thou in the Lord.” “Behold,” you say, “I do trust; what am I to do?”

“And do good.” Do not do that evil which you behold in those men, who are prosperous in wickedness. “Do good, and dwell in the land.” Lest haply you should be doing good without “dwelling in the land.” For it is the Church that is the Lord's land. It is her whom He, the Father, the tiller of it, waters and cultivates. For there are many that, as it were, do good works, but yet, in that they do not “dwell in the land,” they do not belong to the husbandman. Therefore do thou your good, not outside of the land, but do thou “dwell in the land.” And what shall I have?

“And you shall be fed in its riches.” What are the riches of that land? Her riches are her Lord! Her riches are her God! He it is to whom it is said, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup.” In a late discourse we suggested to you, dearly beloved, that God is our possession, and that we are at the same time God's possession. Hear how that He is Himself the riches of that land.

“Delight yourself in the Lord”. As if you had put the question, and had said “Show me the riches of that land, in which you bid me dwell,” he says, “Delight yourself in the Lord.”

5. “And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Understand in their proper signification, “the desires of your heart.” Distinguish the “desires of your heart” from the desires of your flesh; distinguish as much as you can. It is not without a meaning that it is said in a certain Psalm, “God is” (the strength) “of mine heart.” For there it says in what follows: “And God is my portion for ever.” For instance: One labours under bodily blindness. He asks that he may receive his sight. Let him ask it; for God does that too, and gives those blessings also. But these things are asked for even by the wicked. This is a desire of the flesh. One is sick, and prays to be made sound. From the point of death he is restored to health. That too is a desire of the flesh, as are all of such a kind. What is “the desire of the heart”? As the desire of the flesh is to wish to have one's eyesight restored, to enable him, that is, to see that light, which can be seen by such eyes; so “the desire of the heart” relates to a different sort of light. For, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Delight you yourself in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

6. “Behold” (you say), “I do long after it, I do ask for it, I do desire it. Shall I then accomplish it?” No. Who shall then? “Reveal your way unto the Lord: trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass”. Mention to Him what you suffer, mention to Him what thou dost desire. For what is it that you suffer? “The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.” What is it then that you desire? “Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And because it is He “Himself” that “will bring it to pass,” when you shall have “revealed your ways unto Him;” hear what follows: “The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What is it then that He is to bring to pass, since it is said, “Reveal your way unto Him, and He will bring it to pass”? What will He bring to pass?

“And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light”. For now, “your righteousness” is hid. Now it is a thing of faith; not yet of sight. You believe something that you may do it. You do not yet see that in which you believe. But when you shall begin to see that, which you believed before, “your righteousness will be brought forth to the light,” because it is your faith that was your righteousness. For “the just lives by faith.”

7. “And He shall bring forth your judgment as the noon-day.” That is to say, “as the clear light.” It was too little to say, “as the light.” For we call it “light” already, even when it but dawns: we call it light even while the sun is rising. But never is the light brighter than at mid-day. Therefore He will not only “bring forth your righteousness as the light,” but “your judgment shall be as the noon-day.” For now do you make your “judgment” to follow Christ. This is your purpose: this is your choice: this is your “judgment.”...

8. “What should I do then?” Hear what you should do. “Submit to the Lord, and entreat Him”. Let this be your life, to obey His commandments. For this is to submit to Him; and to entreat Him until He gives you what He has promised. Let good works “continue;” let prayer “continue.” For “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Wherein do you show that you are “submitted to Him”? In doing what He has commanded. But haply thou dost not receive your wages as yet, because as yet you are not able. For He is already able to give them; but you are not already able to receive them. Exercise yourself in works. Labour in the vineyard; at the close of the day crave your wages. “Faithful is He” who brought you into the vineyard. “Submit to the Lord, and entreat Him.”

9. “See! I do so; I do 'submit to the Lord, and I do entreat.' But what do you think? That neighbour of mine is a wicked man, living a bad life, and prosperous! His thefts, adulteries, robberies, are known to me. Lifted up above every one, proud, and raised on high by wickedness, he deigns not to notice me. In these circumstances, how shall I hold out with patience?” This is a sickness; drink, by way of remedy. “Fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way.” He prospers, but it is “in his way:” you suffer, but it is in God's way! His portion is prosperity on his way, misery on arriving at its end: yours, toil on the road, happiness in its termination. “The Lord knows the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Thou walkest those ways which “the Lord knows,” and if you dost suffer toil in them, they do not deceive you. The “way of the ungodly” is but a transitory happiness; at the end of the way the happiness is at an end also. Why? Because that way is “the broad road;” its termination leads to the pit of hell. Now, your way is narrow; and “few there be” that enter in through it: but into how ample a field it comes at the last, you ought to consider. “Fret not yourself at him who prospers in his way; because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.”

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath”. Wherefore are you angry? Wherefore is it that, through that passion and indignation, you blaspheme, or almost blaspheme? Against “the man who brings wicked devices to pass, cease from anger, and forsake wrath.” Do you not know whither that wrath tempts you on? You are on the point of saying unto God, that He is unjust. It tends to that. “Look! Why is that man prosperous, and this man in adversity?” Consider what thought it begets: stifle the wicked notion. “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:” so that now returning to your senses, you may say, “My eye is disturbed because of wrath.” What eye is that, but the eye of faith? To the eye of your faith I appeal. Thou believed in Christ: why did you believe? What did He promise you? If it was the happiness of this world that Christ promised you, then murmur against Christ; yes! Murmur against Him, when you see the wicked flourishing. What of happiness did He promise? What, save in the Resurrection of the Dead? But what in this life? That which was His portion. His portion, I say! Do you, servant and disciple, disdain what your Lord, what your Master bore?...