Tuesday, April 7, 2015

This is the Day

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (ESV)

118 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 
for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let Israel 
say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 14 The 
LORD is my strength and my song; he has 
become my salvation. 15 Glad songs of salvation 
are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand 
of the LORD does valiantly, 16 the right hand of 
the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does 
valiantly!” 17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and 
recount the deeds of the LORD. 18 The LORD has 
disciplined me severely, but he has not given me 
over to death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, 
that I may enter through them and give thanks to 
the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous 
shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have 
answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The 
stone that the builders rejected has become the 
cornerstone. 23 This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous 
in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Can I just take a moment and give a shout out to my hometown church. Every summer at Vacation Bible School they played this one song. You know the one. “This is the day. This is the day. That the Lord has made. That the Lord has made. We will rejoice. We will rejoice. And be glad in it. And be glad in it.” They made us sing it in canon with the right side signing first then the left side coming in next. By the end of it we would just be yelling so we could be louder than the other group. To this day, I can’t read verse 24 without singing it. Thanks, VBS.

What a joyful psalm. The writer knew he had gone through some hard times and knew there were more hard times to come just as Jesus knew he had to go to the cross and die. But hear how excited and thankful he is to have gone through it all. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” You see that exclamation point? That one piece of punctuation says it all. God promises us there will be difficult times in our lives. But he also promises that his mercies are new each morning and he will not give us over to death (v. 18). When you make that first step out of the dark valley you’ve been walking through, when you roll away that rock that’s been keeping you in a dark tomb and you see the light shining outside, know that this day, THIS day, the day you’ve been waiting for, this is the day that the Lord has made. Rejoice! Be glad!

Kenna Corley is the Coordinator of Social Media and an alumna of Southwestern College.

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