Overview of: PSALMSToday's Reading:
Psalms 115 – 118
Focus Verses:
Psalm 118:13-14; 22-24
13 I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. - - - 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. 22 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Insight:
I've heard people in church gatherings quote Psalm 118's "this is the day the Lord has made" many times, but rarely with the meaning or intention of the psalmist. Most frequently it seems to be quoted as if it meant, "Wow, what a nice day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing; it's good to be together on this lovely day that God has given us." Is that what the Psalmist meant? Nope.
It's true the day the psalmist is talking about is a good one, but just what good day is he talking about? The day of salvation--the day we are set free by our faithful and good God whose love endures forever (vv. 105). The psalmist was rejoicing in God's deliverance from a national perspective (v. 1), from a faith perspective (vv. 2-3), and a personal perspective (vv. 5-6).
The psalmist also understood the need for deliverance and forgiveness from sin in order to have peace and fellowship with God (v. 27). The Apostle Peter picked up on that theme and saw Jesus as God’s ultimate deliverer. The greatest day of deliverance is the day of salvation God gives us through Christ, who laid down his life for us, and conquered death in order that we might have eternal life, peace, and fellowship with God.
Response and Action:
I will give God thanks for the many ways he delivers and saves me. I look to Christ Jesus as the supreme expression of God's faithfulness to save. I will seek to be an instrument of God's faithfulness and grace in the lives of others around me.
O God, thank you for the ways you save and deliver me. Thank you for bringing me through trials and hardships. Thank you for saving me from the ignorance and foolishness of human reasoning that lacks your counsel and your Word. Thank you for rescuing me from an empty life without meaning or purpose. Thank you for liberating me from the fear of death. Thank you for saving me and granting me eternal life through Jesus. Thank you for reclaiming my life and renovating my spirit through the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. I rejoice in every day of deliverance you have made! I will rejoice and be glad as I place my complete trust and confidence to keep and save me to the end! Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 11:2
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."
New Testament for Today: Acts 4:8-12
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
In Context: Acts 4:1-22
Recommended Reading:
How to Read the Psalms
by Tremper Longman
