Psalm 118

We hope you enjoyed reading this magnificent Psalm.  It begins and ends the same, with the familiar call to praise: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.  And no Psalm gives the proof of God’s goodness and mercy any better than this one.  And if you will allow one of your slightly misguided worship songs to be properly redirected, you will see what I mean. 

Do you sing that little chorus, This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it?  It is commonly sung as an encouragement to thank God for today, sung in the morning so we get a good start.  But I am sure you noticed that this song comes from this Psalm (v24).  And I hope you noticed as well: it refers to a particular day.  ONE DAY IN HISTORY.  The day the builders rejected the Stone who then became the Chief Cornerstone.

It is a passage quoted often in the New Testament (Mt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Lk. 20:17; Ac. 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:7).  It speaks of the day of Jesus’ death (the Stone rejected but thereby He became the Chief Cornerstone).  Reminisce with me for a moment.  Jesus referred to that day as your hour and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).  It was a sad day, a difficult day, a time of the most severe affliction.  But Jesus also said, My Father loves me because I lay down My life that I may take it again (John 10:17).  Jesus willingly obeyed His Father.  He knew Psalm 118 (several of the quotes listed above were by Christ), that His Father is good and forever merciful; that He was on His side and for Him (118:5-7), that He could be trusted (118:8-9), that there would be total victory in the name of the Lord (118:10-12), that the cross and the bearing of our sins was the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter (118:20).

So should we sing the praise of 118:24 early in the morning, at the start of every day?  Sure!  Absolutely!  But keep it Christ-centered.  It is the day of the cross that after three days would issue in the resurrection and after 40 days would take Him to the Father’s right hand.  It that day resulted in eternal goodness from God then certainly your day can count on no less.  Sing it at the outset of a day that you anticipate will be filled with trouble; your troubles will be nothing compared to those of the day of the death of our Lord.  Face today rejoicing over the day the Stone was rejected.  This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes (118:23).  As Christ was the willing sacrifice, bound to the altar of His cross (118:27) so you enter this day by willingly presenting your body as a living sacrifice, bound on the altar of the cross you have taken up as you follow Christ!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.