Verse Nineteen: Psa 118:24

This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.  

Psa 118:24

19 of 44 of H1523

I feel silly even writing about this verse. It's self explanatory, isn't it? Maybe you've known it for so long its even easy to ignore. What's so important about the day being made by God, anyway?

I wasn't born cynical, a lot of life things came about and eventually it was easier to be cynical (notice that they didn't "make" me cynical. I chose it, even if it was out of a perceived need to protect my emotional self). It's become hard for me to just be all optimistic and sunshiny bear about life. Can't you just hear this verse being said by some disgustingly peppy morning person as you stare hazily at them through your coffee steam wishing for Friday? Makes you want to punch them in the face doesn't it? Yeah me too. But then that's not what God's Word is supposed to really trigger in us, so something is wrong here. My guess is it's my attitude ;)

"But," you protest, "I am having a bad day and I really don't care if the Lord made it. It doesn't matter either way, this straight up sucks." I know how you feel. I want to know why it should matter too. So lets explore that.

The word used for "made" (according to Strongs) could also be read as "to labour, to work about anything" and it gives the example of working with gold or silver. This is slightly more powerful. God labored over this day, like a craftsman labors over their work.

And He did this out of "goodness," we are told. Verse one says to "give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever." Here's the interesting thing about that word good. Again looking at Strongs and the Gesenius Lexicon, we find more depth and complexity to the word that gets lost in translation. It isn't just "good" it's a bountiful, pure and precious goodness. The word mercy is complicated too. I think it's easy to think that mercy is somehow a negative. We get the mental image of a haughty God, seated at his throne watching us be beaten in judgement and then he holds up his hand just before the point of our death to halt the torture, showing us "mercy" in that we get to live. Not a happy image.  The reality is that, in this hebrew form, it's synonymous with lovingkindess, ardour, and desire. Mercy, it seems, is like a desire to correct or reproach another being from a place of fervent love. If this is sounding almost too close to a sort of manipulative emotional abuse ("I love you that's why I hurt you") remember that God is also purely good. He is incapable of abuse. He instructs and disciplines (verse 18). How else could we come from the situation actually singing His praises and declaring how wonderful He is?

So what about a bad day? Well, according to the rest of Psalm 118, when the world, man and nations come against you all you have to do is call on the Lord and He will set you free from it. Verse five, "Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free." and verse 14 "The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

For such a short verse I sure have gone on a lot :P So after ALL that what is the conclusion? Well this isn't just any day. This is a day the Lord fervently, ardently labored over and, because He is purely good He creates nothing but good things, we have reason to joyfully sing about it. Those good things can go bad, the world can attack us from all sides but even then the answer is the Lord; He will save us when we call and His freedom will get us singing!