Martin Luther on Psalms 130:2

Verse. 2. Lorde heare my voice: let thine eares attende to the voyce of my prayers.

He speaketh (as I haue saide before) to the same God whose seate was in Ierusalem, like as we now speake vnto that God, and call him father whom we knowe and worship in Christ alone. On this God with deepe sighes he calleth, that he would with the eye of mercie looke vpon him and gratiously harken vnto his prayer. But if we thinke that we can not pray with such a minde or with such feruencie of spirit as these words doe expresse, Dauid in his tentation did not thus pray. we must consider that Dauid him selfe did not thus pray in his anguish and in the extremitie of his tentation. The minde oppressed with terrour and desperation, can not pray so long as such desperate assaultes doe endure, but bursteth out rather into blasphemy & murmuring against God, and can not thinke wel or reuerently of God. But when the extremitie of the conflict is past, thē beginneth this crying vnto God and this vehement desire, which the mind before oppressed with anguish and sorrowe, could scarsely once feele. It helpeth an afflicted conscience also very much (as I haue said) to heare some faithfull brother with comfortable exhortation & counsel out of the word of God, saying on this wise: Brother, why art thou so heauy harted? Singular cō solations against desperation. Doest thou not heare that God will not the death of a sinner? hast thou forgotten that God commaundeth thee to beleeue in him, to trust in him? Looke vpon the first commaundement: What is it, what requireth it else, but that we shoulde worship God in faith and hope? Why then shouldest thou not trust in his goo[illegible: 1 letter]nes and mercie? Why shouldest thou despaire? This is to heape sinne vpon sinne: and whereas thou wast a sinner before in the second table and in the inferior degre of the commaundements of God, now thou settest thy selfe in the firste table also, and in the highest degree, adding to thy other sinnes, desperation and incredulitie, &c. When the heauy and troubled conscience is thus earnestly stirred vp to a stedfast hope and trust in God, and to the consideration of Gods great mercie and goodnes towardes the penitent and afflicted, then beginneth to arise some sparke of faith and groning of the harte, bursting out into these or the like wordes: Oh that I could. These vnspeakeable gronings the spirite helpeth, and at the length there followeth some feeling of relese & comfort. For God can not reiect or neglect these gronings. Of these gronings we see a shadowe, as it were, in the first verses. But why doest thou grone? why art thou heauie? Harken what followeth.