This is the Day that the Lord Has Made

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

Psalm 123:1

This is the Day that the Lord has Made

By Pastor John Dawson

With the start of the new year, it’s natural to think about the passing of time. But the new year looks different to those of different ages. When I was young, each year seemed to be such a big thing. Going from age 5 to 6 adds a huge percentage of life. I wanted to get older because I thought I would be able to do more things. That was true enough, but as I got older, I found that I also was required to do more things. And now I am realizing that I can no longer do some things that I used to be able to do. I look back and wonder how quickly the years pass. I remember when I looked forward to the year 2000, thinking that we would have flying cars, or routinely do space travel. Does it surprise you to think that futuristic year is now more than 20 years in the rearview mirror? And still no flying cars!

So rather than think about years, let’s consider days. One day may look like the next, but it is not. Each one has its own opportunity. A year, a decade, even a lifetime, is made up of a series of days. We live, not in years, but in days. Think about living each one of them as you should, to serve and glorify God. The Lord knows all the number of our days but we do not. 

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:16). Because we don’t know how many days we will have, we should value them all. Pay attention to the day you are in. So we ask the Lord: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). We need to realize that each day is an opportunity to love and serve God and other people.

            This is not a call to merely seize the day. The day is ours to live in, but we do not seize it merely for our own benefit. The first priority for the Christian is to recognize that the Lord of eternity is Lord of this day. We serve the Lord of eternity by serving him each day. Each day we need to hear his voice. Get instruction from his Word. Calm your heart in prayer so you can discern his leading. The Israelites wandered in the desert without a true awareness of the Lord’s presence and care—even though they had seen all the wonders that he did to get them out of Egypt. Don’t be like that! Psalm 95 calls us to humble ourselves in worship before the Lord. It also gives us this warning. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof though, though they had seen my work. Rather than trust the Lord, they murmured and complained. Because of this they never entered into the Promised Land. We are also told that if ignore the voice of the Lord, we will not enter into his rest. Listen to the Lord’s voice every day and follow him.

            One verse that is often used to have us pay attention to the day we are in is Psalm 118:24. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I remember singing a song to that verse. It is a good reminder that this is a day that the Lord has given us and so we should live our lives aware of that. We should be thankful for the day. We should be purposeful in our actions. And yet, that was really taking the verse out of context. That psalm is the one they sang when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. That section calls for the gates of the righteous to be opened for the Righteous One to enter. He is the stone that the builders rejected. This was the long expected day when the Savior would ride into Jerusalem. So they cried out, Hosannah—Save us, we pray, O Lord. That verse is really about the Day the long promised King would ride into Jerusalem.

            Yet, it is still a great verse for us to consider our days. There will be another time when the King will ride into the New Jerusalem. It is the second and final advent. That will be the day of restoration. Is that today? Perhaps. We are to be looking, expectantly, for the coming of the Lord. We should live today as if it were our last. Because we look with expectation to Jesus always, that day is connected to this day and every day.

            How can we live each day with such expectation? Here is a suggestion. First, remember the verse: This is the day that the Lord has made. And because the Lord has made it and has given it to us, we have the reminder: let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is one of the main ways that we glorify and enjoy God. We are not like those who grumbled in the wilderness, but we rejoice in what God has given us. As John Piper likes to say, we glorify God by enjoying him forever. It is not just the gifts that he gives, but our God himself who gives us joy. And then remember that this day is connected to the Day, which is coming. Lift up your head, for your redemption is drawing near.

Pastor John