Psalm 118:24

 

 

“This is the day,”

How we so lustily sing!

“We will rejoice and be glad in it”

And O what joy it brings!

 

It’s truly a lift

From our sunken depths

Especially after an experience

That brought regret.

 

“This is the day,”

And it doesn’t matter what,

There’s no such thing as a bad day;

God created the whole lot.

 

That’s how I viewed it

Until someone shared with me

This entire chapter

And then I began to see.

 

We sing it and enjoy it

But we miss its context,

The Psalmist saw a lot more

In this significant text.

 

We think of creation

And that God made each day,

Nothing’s wrong with that

But David had more to say.

 

 

David had a preview

Of God’s amazing grace

When the Messiah would come

And take his place.

 

And so, in God’s assurance

He could confidently say,

This is the day, prophetically speaking

Of Christ’s coming day.

 

The day of atonement!

The day of so great salvation!

Twenty-eight generations before,

David saw his redemption.

 

 

He rejoiced back then

As though the time was nigh,

“This is the Lord’s doing,” he says,

It is marvelous in our eyes.

 

More than a thousand years

To come before Christ’s time

But the glorious Gospel of salvation

Was on David’s mind.

 

“The stone the builders refused

Is become the headstone,”

“This is the day,” David said,

And in this he was not alone.

 

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

 

Stewart Russell © August 12, 2021