“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

A simple verse, but one I think I have been selling short in terms of meaning and power. I have up until this morning always heard or read the verse and thought “Yep, God made today, be thankful for the gift of another day.” The problem is that that is where I left it. Today it hit me, this is the day, the very day that the Creator has made. Just as He made you and me and nature around us with a purpose and plan, so did He make this day. This day is His day. He owns the day just as He owns the universe. Whatever may happen today, whatever may be said, whatever problems I may face, are a part of this day that the Lord has made. He sovereignly made the day and its events. I don’t know that I fully comprehend that. He made this day to glorify Him and please Himself. He did’t make it so that I might be thankful or I could even rejoice. He made it for His glory. Now my being thankful, my rejoicing in His grace and in His Sovereign nature is an aspect of glory being given to Him, but it is not about me. So often I viewed this verse as centered around my day, my plan, my agenda. But it is completely the opposite. This is the day that the Lord has made. And the rejoicing and being glad in it is because He is God. Because He made. Because He sovereignly determined this day to exist and bring Him glory. I could get in a car accident today, or have everything be turned upside down and not know what to do and it would not change the fact that today, that this day, is the day the Lord made and I am to rejoice and be glad that He is God, that He made this day. Rejoice that He made a day full of obstacles and struggles and pain. Rejoice that God allows me, that He graciously allows me to glorify and lift up His name through a painful event. I so often view events and days backwards, I view them with me as the focal point and from my perspective. If I view this day correctly I see the focus is not even on the day but on the One who made the day. The Maker of all things who says “Here child, because of my love and grace I allow you to honor me.” That is how low and needy and sinful I am as a human. That there is nothing about me that is capable or worthy of bringing God glory in and of itself. It is only through His grace and His mercy and His love that it is even possible. God has to let me honor Him, He has to allow me. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

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live love.
breathe surrender.
with reckless abandon.