larva Dei - mask of God

AELW 9:40-41

Deuteronomy 3:18. Shall pass over armed before.

"This he says to the men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Now this sounds as though he wanted them to wage the war with their own strength. But these things happen that there may be room for faith and the divine promise and that God may not be openly tempted. For even if God creates, nourishes, preserves, and governs all the sons of men, nevertheless He does not want any to be idle but gives them members with which they should bear, cherish, and govern one another, whereby God is given the occasion for creating, nourishing, and ruling. Thus the power of God hidden under the human activity is seen by faith to do all things; and the unbelieving, who see only the work of man and do not know the power of God, are deceived. So here, too, they are ordered to use arms, and yet they are forbidden to trust in arms. In the work of God they proceed with their own powers, and yet they are not presumptuous with their own powers. What, then, are human powers, where faith and the Word reign, except masks of God, as it were, under which He hides and does His wonders, while through their weakness He stirs up the proud, brave, wise, and holy against Himself? [NOTE SEE BELOW] And where they have collided, He soon gets rid of them, triumphs over them, and makes a show of them openly (Col. 2:15). Blessed is he whose members and arms thus serve God. Yes, if someone knows that the power and wisdom of God are of such a sort, he trusts wholly, not in the mask of God but in the Word behind the mask; and he can and does perform wonders, yes, everything, in the Lord. So it will come about that he walks on, free and safe in the midst of presumption and despair, and does not tempt God while he has what he needs; again, he does not despair if what he needs is lacking. For God, who works with him under the things which he has, will also work with him without these things, where he has nothing. Thus he does not have an abundance or have more when everything is at hand, nor does he suffer want or have less when everything is lacking. For in both situations he has God, just as Paul says (Phil. 4:12): “I have learned to abound, I have learned to endure want.” The godless, however, are puffed up by the property that is on hand; and when this is gone, they are downcast, because they grasp only the mask of things. Others are groping, because they do not want to use what has been given."

NOTE:

"The term larva Dei, “mask of God,” is an important one in Luther’s theological language. By it he designates the various external forms—the universe, other men, Satan, even Christ—through which (God carries out His hidden purposes for men and for His church."