“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
There have been times in my life that I didn’t see much reason to rejoice. The troubles or trials that I was facing seemed more than overwhelming. For just a moment, I lost touch with that special joy that each Christian is familiar with. Sometimes, these problems were, in fact, serious. Other times, it might simply be disappointment or a case of the blues. Whatever the reason, the symptoms are always the same: a lack of interest in the things about me and a general discontent with life.
In those times, I have always been comforted (or perhaps corrected) by this verse: “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) Like all scripture, it has a message and a command.
The message is: this is the day which the Lord hath made. That little fragment of scripture in itself is more than comforting, it is incredible. Each day we live on this planet, it is the direct result of our Creator working with his creation. All days are not identical. One isn’t simply a carbon copy of the last. Tides and seasons change literally by the minute. The sun, the stars, the moons, the planets, all of these are experiencing changes constantly. The sun never sets on the same world that is rose up on. Every sunrise is a work of art; every sunset the fulfillment of a working plan.
All of God’s creation can witness his work in action. As Christians, we are given a special gift. Every day we can wake up with the knowledge that “this is the day which the Lords' hath made.” We know the Creator of each day.
The verse, however, has a second part. The command: we will rejoice and be glad in it. God wanted us to understand this command so he wrote it in very simple words. The command does not say, “Our life is perfect and things are going well, so we will rejoice in this day.” Nor does it say, “If we feel like it, and it’s convenient, we will rejoice in this day.” How our lives are going and how we feel in our bodies has no bearing on this command whatsoever.
We are told simply that “this is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” No loopholes. No grey areas. No way out.
Through the toughest times of my life, I have found that the sun rises faithfully every morning. Even when I feel the lowest, it never fails that a new day begins, just as the last one ends. God is faithful and he preforms his work with the same faithfulness.
The beauty of our text is not only that God makes each new day, it is the eternal truth that the same God that is faithful to preform his word and create each new day, is working a work in our hearts as well.
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” (Isaiah 60:1) |
