Nothing for Our Salvation Without God’s Help

Finally, the Author of our salvation teaches us what we must not only think but also confess in everything we do. “I can do nothing of myself,” he says, “but the Father who dwells in me, he does the works.” Speaking in the human nature he had taken on, he says that he could do nothing of himself. And will we, who are dust and ashes, think that we have no need of God’s help in what concerns our salvation? [a]

So let us learn in everything, as we feel our own weakness and at the same time his help, to declare with the saints: “I was overthrown so that I might fall, but the Lord held me up. The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation.” And: “Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would almost have dwelt in hell. If I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your mercy, O Lord, helped me. According to the multitude of the sorrows in my heart, your comforts have given joy to my soul.” Seeing, too, that our heart is strengthened in the fear of the Lord and in patience, let us say: “And the Lord became my protector, and he brought me out into a broad place.” And knowing that knowledge grows as we make progress in action, let us say: “For you light my lamp, O Lord. O my God, light up my darkness, for by you I will be delivered from temptation, and through my God I will go over a wall.”

Then, feeling that we have ourselves sought courage and endurance, and are being guided more easily and without labor along the path of the virtues, let us say: “It is God who girded me with strength and made my way perfect; who made my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me up on high; who teaches my hands to wage war.” And having also gained discernment, strengthened by which we can dash our enemies down, let us cry aloud to God: “Your discipline has set me up to the end, and that same discipline of yours will teach me. You have widened my steps beneath me, and my feet have not grown weak.” And because I am strengthened in this way by your knowledge and power, I will boldly take up the words that follow and say: “I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until they are consumed. I will break them, and they will not be able to stand; they will fall under my feet.”

Again, mindful of our own weakness, and of the fact that while we are still burdened with the weak flesh we cannot overcome such bitter foes as our sins without his help, let us say: “Through you we will scatter our enemies, and through your name we will despise those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor will my sword save me. For you have saved us from those who afflict us, and have put to shame those who hate us.” And further: “You have guided me with strength into the battle, and have subdued under me those who rose up against me. And you have made my enemies turn their backs to me, and have destroyed those who hated me.” And reflecting that we cannot conquer with our own weapons alone, let us say: “Take hold of weapons and shield, and rise up to help me. Bring out the sword and block the way against those who persecute me. Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’” “And you have made my arms like a bow of bronze. And you have given me the protection of your salvation, and your right hand has held me up.” “For our fathers did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm and the light of your face, because you were pleased with them.”

Lastly, as we look with an anxious mind and with thankfulness on all his benefits, let us cry to him from the inmost feelings of our heart for all these things: because we have fought, and have received from him the light of knowledge, and self-control, and discernment; because he has equipped us with his own weapons and strengthened us with a belt of virtue; and because he has made our enemies turn their backs to us and has given us the power to scatter them like dust before the wind. “I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him I will put my trust; my protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support. With praise I will call on the name of the Lord, and I will be saved from my enemies.”