FROM PASTOR’S DESK….
“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24
I wonder why the psalmist David wrote this particular verse? Perhaps it was that he had a revelation from God of how special that particular day really was. I believe that his heavenly Father had revealed to him somehow that that today in his life was sanctified unto Him, and was therefore a reason in and of itself for rejoicing in the Lord?
When I awakened this morning the day at first seemed like any other to me. The alarm went off just it has for well over half a century in my life. The sun shown in the east through the trees just like it does every other day. My early morning routine was no different than yesterday or perhaps from tomorrow. O.K., so what is so important about today that I should stop and rejoice in it?
Let’s read the verse again. Those first few words hold a powerful truth that is too easy to overlook. It says: “This is the day the Lord has made…” We might put it like this: “God has carefully and wonderfully, with great deliberate-ness, created a very special 24-hour period of time in which He has destined for wonderful things to happen in my life for His glory and to fulfill His plan for my life!” Now when I look at my today like this, I tend to want to rejoice in it, don’t I?
Today really is a marvelous thing to God! See what the Apostle Paul says under the unction of the Holy Spirit in II Corinthians 6:1-2 (NKJV)
1.
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the
grace of God in vain.
2.
For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of
salvation I have helped.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the
day of salvation.
We know the word salvation means the sum total of God’s blessings to the child of God. It includes eternal life through the new birth, the richness of joy and peace that only Jesus can give, the promises of health and prosperity, divine guidance and all wisdom, and all the other promises laid out in Holy Scriptures for the covenant people of God.
Now let’s take this powerful truth about salvation and place it in the context of our text verse and see what we come up with. Our heavenly Father says that He intends for His promised blessings to be ours today in fullest measure! Today will be a marvelous experience of God’s glory and power! Today will be a blessed time of intimacy with our God! Today will be a capsule of time in which we are privileged to receive everything in our Father’s heart for us! Today is when the Holy Spirit will flow through us to powerfully change the lives of those we encounter! Today we will personally feel the love of Almighty God in rich fullness!
Hmmm……you know, right now I choose to rejoice in today and to be glad in it!
