This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psa 118:24)That's what the Scripture says. David said that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psa 139:14). And it's so true. He made us more complex than science can fathom. He made the world in which we live, beautiful in so many ways. He made that tiny hand with its complex skeletal and muscular structures that allow it to grasp your finger before the little one is even conscious he is doing it. He made birds and bees, mountains and trees, the oceans and all that in them is -- life in all its splendor. God said, "I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these" (Isa 45:6-7). "Forming light" and "causing well-being," and we can rejoice and be glad in it.
He also claimed "creating darkness" and "creating calamity." We can certainly see enough of that in our world. Natural disasters, man-made horrors, disease, famine, wars. Check your media feeds. There are killings and crimes all around. There is conflict and calamity everywhere. We are all touched by it in some way or another. Governments try to curb it, but, unaware of the real cause, they fail miserably. And they will until this world is ended.
So you have to ask yourself, "If this is the day that which the Lord has made, will I rejoice and be glad in it?" To do so would seem to go against simple reason. But to fail to do so is worse. To fail to do so says that God is not to be trusted, that God is not allowed to be God, that God is not good. To fail to recognize that this is the day that the Lord has made and not rejoice in it is to exercise a bit (or a lot) of insurrection against the Most High. So you need to figure out if you will believe that God is wrong in some of this, or if humans mean it for evil, but God means it for good. In the very same text above, the psalmist wrote, "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting" (Psa 118:1). Is His lovingkindess everlasting, or does it have to meet your personal standards? Will you give thanks? Will we rejoice in it? As for me, I believe He is good and faithful and righteous. So, this is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.
2 comments:
We always need to remind ourselves of this. Amen!
This is a verse I say to myself regularly (and openly fairly often, too). But I don't connect what the Lord hath made with the way so many have misused their time with it.
Every new day He hath made is another chance for me to reflect Him to others and I need more days to get better at that. I rejoice for the numerous chances yet before me as each one begins.
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