A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (Martin Luther)

Are y'all aware of what an awesome hymn this is? We sang it at RUF last night and I was so encouraged by its truth. Take a look.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Two lines to make the point (the thesis of this hymn, if you will) - God is a mighty fortress, our helper. Then we introduce the devil. Oh man, he's powerful too - there's no one on earth who can stand up to him.

Well yes, that's true. And if we tried, we would lose. But God gave us an ally. Jesus. "And He MUST win the battle." It's done. Decided. Imperative.

So there are many things in the world that challenge us. But, I love this line - "God hath willed His truth to triumph through us." Wow. We are conduits of God's truth! Huzzuh! This next part still baffles me a little - we tremble not for the devil, cause we know he's gonna lose. So then, who do we tremble for?

I think this gets back to the question of the Fear of the Lord that has been plaguing me this entire semester. What is that?! What does it look like? How does it impact my day to day life?

Okay, back to the song. So Christ abides regardless of what happens on earth - regardless of our existence, needs, desires, etc. And we have this other great gift - the Spirit! Who is also our ally! Oh man.....two great persons of the Trinity given to us in our struggle against the devil. This is fantastic! So, "let goods and kindred go" - this is something I've been thinking about lately. I'm kind of okay with letting "this mortal life" go. I'm going to heaven when I die. I know that, and I rest assured in that every day. Of course, letting goods go is good too because we don't want to be materialists. But kindred?! Let my kindred go?! (Sounds like something out of Moses...) That's my biggest fear - to be left behind on this earth if something were to happen to a member of my immediate family. That terrifies me! I don't want to be left behind. But this song, I think rightly, demands that we set all that aside, all those very good things, for the truth of God! "His kingdom is forever!" These are the things eternal. God's truth. Fearing the Lord. Christ's victory over Satan, sin and death.

Praise Jesus! And go in peace :)