Psalm 54 - Not with bustle and worldly power

...but in the Name of the Lord

AELW 10:249-250

"The saints, however, are in silence and patience and in hope (spes), not in physical activity (res), like those people, for they are saved by the name of the Lord. This does not come about except in hope and patience and silence, whereas the ungodly seek to be saved in bustle and physical activity (res), indeed by the vanity of physical activity. Thus Ps. 44:5 declares: “Through Thy name we will despise those who rise up against us.” Then follows (Ps. 44:6): “I will not trust in my bow.” Again Is. 52:12 says: “You shall not go out in a tumult,” and Is. 9:5: “For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burned and fuel for the fire,” that is, those who desire to be saved through impatience and in worldly tumult will be condemned and will perish. This actually happened in the destruction of Jerusalem, where the Jews, having rejected Christ, who saves in silence and hope, sought to save themselves against the Romans in tumult and physical activity itself in conformity with the world and were burned up with the whole city, for they were not in humility and patience. So Christ acted. He gained the upper hand over the devil and the yoke of his burden, not with bustle and worldly power but in the name of the Lord, so that, as in the case of Midian, the demons would kill and destroy themselves (Is. 9:4), for He sent a sword on earth and came to set a man against his father (Matt. 10:34, 35). And so a good strife comes in order that a bad peace may be disrupted. This is what the prophet has in mind when he says (Is. 9:4): “Thou hast overcome the yoke of his burden, as in the day of Midian,” for there the enemies were slain without the sword and the shedding of blood, simply by the sound of the trumpets (Judg. 7:22). And the reason is: “Unto us a Child is born” (Is. 9:6). This is “humility,” namely, in the name of the Lord. We must not attempt to be saved by our own powers or by the world’s resources, but in humility, that is, in the name of the Lord, being fully aware of the fact that we possess absolutely nothing of salvation in ourselves, so that we may not trust in our bow, and our sword will not save us."