Rejoicing in the Day of the Lord
After missing several weeks, I returned to my Tuesday prayer time with some of our elected officials. I had a fitness center workout and the attended my Rotary meeting. I had a good day and felt a good level of energy and strength. Perhaps some of the drug therapy is working…or just a sign of answered prayer…or both.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 NLT
This verse of Psalm 118 is one of the most familiar in the Bible. It has been quoted, songs have been written based on it and it has been viewed as a great admonition of encouragement.
When the Lord is with us each day and each moment it is a cause of rejoicing. In this Psalm we find these encouraging declarations, “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear…” (Psalm 118:6 NLT) “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” (Psalm 118:14 NLT) Perhaps it would be good for those verses to be as well known as verse 24.
I am thankful that we can view each day as a gift from the Lord and a reason to rejoice in the Lord’s goodness, provision and blessing. This morning I was visiting with my friend Pastor Darren Fred. I told him “it is a good day, I am breathing.” Then I commented that it is so easy to take for granted what comes so natural, like breathing, until you experience an event where you can’t breathe. That happened to me when West Nile Virus impacted my nerves and muscles to the point my lungs stopped working. That resulted in seven weeks on life support with help from a respirator to do what normally came so natural.
However, as I view the stanza in which verse 24 is found it is filled with familiar declarations related to the coming of Christ, as Messiah. For example just before declaring, “this is the day the Lord has made” we read, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.” (Psalm 118:22,23 NLT)
Immediately after verse 24, we read, “Please, Lord, please save us. Please, Lord, please give us success. Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 118:25,26 NLT) We recall from the gospel’s that this is the shout of those who welcomed Jesus as he rode on a donkey into Jerusalem the week before He died on a cross.
In this context the “day the Lord has made” is the day of salvation. The day in which Jesus is alive, present and working out the Father’s will. As we trust in the Lord that can be “everyday.” But as I read Revelation, I am reminded of the coming “Day of the Lord.” It will be a time of trouble, persecution, judgment on all the earth. But it will be a “day the Lord has made” and a cause of rejoicing for the people of God because the Lord’s final salvation is coming to the earth.
Regardless of what that time holds for God’s people we can have the assurance, “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear…” (Psalm 118:6 NLT) “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” (Psalm 118:14 NLT)
Prayer for today... Lord allow us to welcome You into each day we live, as we look toward “the” day when You return and accomplish Your final work of salvation. Give us strength, remove fear and allow us to rejoice and be glad in You.