The day that the Lord has made
This week is on Psalm 118:19-24:
I am using a different translation this week than the usual one I go with. Some of the more contemporary translations can be a bit like the Cliff's Notes of what's there, or like reading the children's version of a great classic. You get 80% of what's there, but you miss the deeper meaning and the beauty of how it is put.
Here we have a Psalm talking about salvation and the loving kindness of God. Imagine the gates of a just king's temple. Can an ordinary person go through those gates? They're closed for a reason, right? But this guy is asking for those gates to be opened for him, this guy who admits he's a sinner.
He gives a little more background. It's not just the gates of a just king, it's the gate for God himself. Only the most special of all people can go through it. Only those who we today would call Christlike can go through that gate. And yet this guy who admits he's a sinner asks to go through them. In other words, if you saw this guy, you would say that he's not Christlike. He has problems. He is imperfect and trying to use that gate anyway, even though he doesn't deserve it and doesn't belong.
God answered him and became his deliverer. He gets in. He would have been stuck outside if God had not answered him. The rejected piece became the most valuable piece of what God built. The author considers it amazing, because it is amazing. What bigger turnaround is there than to go from being eternally rejected to eternally cherished? It's not some random coincidence like he won the lottery. It is God's work. As in, God planned it and devoted resources to ensuring it would happen. This, for a sinner!
He says "this is the day that the Lord has brought about." You could interpret that as the day of your salvation, or of the day Jesus rose again, but you could also interpret it as the day that you're allowed to enter into God's presence and enjoy being cherished by him. In other words, every day.
This day, right now, and every day from now on, is amazing. It is a day that God has created, which exists within his plan, and in which a rejected broken piece like you and I can be used as an integral part of what he is building. It is God's work. God, who is our deliverer. God whose love never fades, and who gives us strength and help. How can we not be happy and rejoice in a day like that?
Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple!
I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the Lord’s gate—
the godly enter through it.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me,
and have become my deliverer.
The stone which the builders discarded
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s work.
We consider it amazing!
This is the day the Lord has brought about.
We will be happy and rejoice in it.
I am using a different translation this week than the usual one I go with. Some of the more contemporary translations can be a bit like the Cliff's Notes of what's there, or like reading the children's version of a great classic. You get 80% of what's there, but you miss the deeper meaning and the beauty of how it is put.
Here we have a Psalm talking about salvation and the loving kindness of God. Imagine the gates of a just king's temple. Can an ordinary person go through those gates? They're closed for a reason, right? But this guy is asking for those gates to be opened for him, this guy who admits he's a sinner.
He gives a little more background. It's not just the gates of a just king, it's the gate for God himself. Only the most special of all people can go through it. Only those who we today would call Christlike can go through that gate. And yet this guy who admits he's a sinner asks to go through them. In other words, if you saw this guy, you would say that he's not Christlike. He has problems. He is imperfect and trying to use that gate anyway, even though he doesn't deserve it and doesn't belong.
God answered him and became his deliverer. He gets in. He would have been stuck outside if God had not answered him. The rejected piece became the most valuable piece of what God built. The author considers it amazing, because it is amazing. What bigger turnaround is there than to go from being eternally rejected to eternally cherished? It's not some random coincidence like he won the lottery. It is God's work. As in, God planned it and devoted resources to ensuring it would happen. This, for a sinner!
He says "this is the day that the Lord has brought about." You could interpret that as the day of your salvation, or of the day Jesus rose again, but you could also interpret it as the day that you're allowed to enter into God's presence and enjoy being cherished by him. In other words, every day.
This day, right now, and every day from now on, is amazing. It is a day that God has created, which exists within his plan, and in which a rejected broken piece like you and I can be used as an integral part of what he is building. It is God's work. God, who is our deliverer. God whose love never fades, and who gives us strength and help. How can we not be happy and rejoice in a day like that?
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