How's Your Day?

The psalmist wrote, "Give thanks to YHWH, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting" (Psa 118:1). So true. He went on to write, "This is the day which YHWH has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psa 118:24). To be fair, we've happily snatched that verse out of its context and thrown it up as a happy little song. "The day" he was writing about wasn't just any day. In the prior verses, he writes,

I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is YHWH's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." (Psa 118:21-23)

Thus, "the day" to which he refers is specifically when Christ came, died, rose again, and conquered all. That's the day YHWH made. That's the day we rejoice and be glad for. But ... that's now. He reigns now. So this is that "day" in an ongoing sense, and we can and should rejoice and be glad in the stone that became the chief corner stone.

The truth is, today is the day the Lord has made. How is yours? I mean, are you satisfied with it -- are you rejoicing in it -- or do you have some suggestions for improvement? The truth is, we are living in the era spoken of when Christ became the corner stone. Are you glad? Are you rejoicing in it? We should really give thanks, because He is good, and His lovingkindness is everlasting. Perhaps that can make your day better.

Where to Stand

In 1868, Elizabeth Clephane wrote the hymn, Beneath the Cross of Jesus. It was published three years after her death. Clephane was born in Scotland. She was considered a frail girl, but was known for her philanthropic causes. Her parents died when she was young and her brother died in a fall from a horse. She died at 38, a weak, frail, short-lived life ... full of good works. What was her secret?

Elizabeth was known as "one of those cheerful people who brighten every corner." Her friends called her "Sunbeam." Because Clephane lived "beneath the cross of Jesus." In what sense? Elizabeth wrote,

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.

It's a bold statement. Bold because Scripture says "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor 1:18). She boldly declares to those who consider it "foolishness," "This is where I gladly reside." And bold because the cross is a place of suffering. You actually want to stand there?

In subsequent verses, Clephane calls the cross a "safe and happy shelter," a "trysting place where heaven's love and heaven’s justice meet." I love that phrase. She confesses that she can see Him on that cross at times. "And from my smitten heart, with tears, two wonders I confess -- the wonders of His glorious love, and my own worthlessness." That's where she longed to stand.

The last verse says,

I take, O cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.

In that verse we find her secret to happiness in an existence that we would consider painful, even unbearable. Beneath His cross, she was looking to Jesus. Nowhere else. Like Paul with his thorn in the flesh, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Cor 12:9). At the cross we can find contentment beyond the world's understanding. I would gladly ("fain") take my stand there.

No April Fool

We laugh about April Fool's Day, but Scripture talks about foolishness quite a bit. Biblical foolishness resides in the arena of sin. It's not merely ignorance or even a lack of understanding. It begins with the suppression of truth (Rom 1:18) which produces the exchange of God for alternatives (Rom 1:22-23). Paul wrote, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen" (Rom 1:25). The phrase, "a lie," is most correctly translated "the lie." What lie is that? Worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. And that is foolishness. David wrote, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good" (Psa 14:1). And you see the correlation between "no God" and the judgment of good and bad -- "There is no one who does good."

Proverbs has a lot on foolishness. Some of my favorites are "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel" (Pro 12:15), "A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is arrogant and careless" (Pro 14:16), and "A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind" (Pro 18:2). A fool has a temper (Pro 14:17), perverse speech (Pro 19:1), and produces sin (Pro 24:9). And on ... and on.

Wisdom, the counter to foolishness, begins with the fear of the Lord (Pro 9:10). It would bring about a proper grasp of God as opposed to a suppression of the truth about Him. It would produce a right understanding of our sin nature and the need for a Savior. It would lead to repentance and faith, and the grace and mercy that accompany repentance and faith. Our "April Fool" is a joke day, and that's fine, but let's be year-round wise, pursuing God and His truth, rather than daily fools.