“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
– Psalm 118:24
Now, that’s a good way to start a day. I don’t know if you’re listening to this in the morning or sometime else during the day or maybe at night, but just think about starting your day with this reality from Psalm 118:24. “This is the day that the Lord has made.” He made this day.
Whether you’re in the morning or the evening, the day you’re in right now, God made it. God created this day, which, think about all that means. His grace is on this day. His mercy is on this day. The very fact that we have this day is because God has given it to us. The very fact that we are experiencing it is because God is giving us breath at this moment.
Psalm 118:24 Reminds Us God Has a Purpose For Our Day
Psalm 118:24 infuses meaning into a today to know that God has made the day and has a purpose for it. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
The God who made us made everything that’s around us on this day that we have to experience. He’s made this day, so let us rejoice. It infuses meaning into a day to know that God has made it. God has designs for it. He has a purpose for it. God is working in it. We don’t approach a day the way an atheist approaches a day.
Think about it, someone who doesn’t believe in God, or who believes there is no God, approaches a day very, very differently, because that person does not believe God made this day. This day just happened. It’s a part of evolutionary chance. It’s not necessarily even a part of a bigger picture that’s going any particular direction, like it’s evolving. Everything changes in your worldview when you don’t believe God made this day. Everything changes in your worldview when you realize God made this day. It brings joy.
Psalm 118:24 Leads Us to Rejoice
Let us rejoice. It brings joy to know God’s given you and me breath. God’s given us grace. He’s given us a life. He’s given us people to love. And He’s given us things to enjoy as well as work to do. All of this just infuses joy and meaning into the day. Gladness. Let us be glad in it that we have another day, another day to live for others gGood. Let’s be glad in that we have another day to live for his glory and we have another day to live for our good, our joy in it. It changes your perspective when Psalm 118:24 greets you when you get out of bed. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for a New Perspective
And so God, we pray for this perspective. God help us not to live with a functionally atheistic perspective, meaning we may not say there is no God or we may say we believe in you, God, but sometimes we live just like every day. It’s just more of the same, just things happening.
No, it’s not more of the same. It’s a new day that you have made. Help us to see this and rejoice in this, to rejoice in your creation of this day and to maximize this day, God, for your glory, to walk with joy in it. Even immense difficulties in the day, challenges in the world around us. God help us to walk with you, to experience communion with you and as a result of that, to find joy in you today and to live for the spread of your grace and your glory in this day that you’ve given us.
This Verse Leads Us to Think of the Future
As we do look forward to that day to come in the future, I can’t help but to think about that day when you usher in a new heaven and a new earth and when there is no more difficulties, there’s no more sorrow, there’s no more sin, no more suffering, no more death. Oh God, we long for that day. We just confess today that this is not what we most long for. While we rejoice and we are glad in today, we’re looking even more forward to that day.
And so we pray. We pray, God, that you’ll help us to be faithful today as we wait for that day. Help us to prepare people today for that day. Help us to be faithful, to share the Gospel today, to warn people around us, friends, family members, coworkers, people we meet today, help us to warn them of coming judgment upon sin. And help us to warn them that not one of us is guaranteed to make it through this day or get to tomorrow. So help us to proclaim your good news of grace today, to call people to trust in you today.
God, we pray that you will use us to lead somebody to Jesus today. God, what an awesome day that would be. Help us to live toward that end. And in this, God, we pray that you help us to make the most of this day, to rejoice and be glad in it. For you are the one who created it, made it, and has given it to us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
