Dear Amy,

What reason is there to rejoice?

Besides the fact that Jesus is alive and reigning and ruling over the nations with power and authority and compassion and kindness, we find some more reasons in Psalm 118.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

The LORD has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.

― Psalm 118:1, 6, 14, 18, 27a

But there’s something in particular I want to focus on. Something that enables us to rejoice even though our earthly future is uncertain in regard to … so many things!

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

― Psalm 118:24

Only by living in this day, really living in it, enjoying the goodness and kindness and steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord in this day, only by this may we really grasp what Jesus meant when he said,

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

― John 10:10b

Only by living in this day, fully living in it, are we able to grasp hold of what it is the Lord is doing in us and through us, for his glory and for the advancement of his Kingdom, and to surrender to it and to become a part of it, and then to rejoice! Praise him!

But there’s more. There’s a whole other dimension to this day. Let’s read that stanza in its entirety⸺remember context!

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

― Psalm 118:19-24

Jesus quoted this (Luke 20:17) and he himself is the cornerstone. So there is another “this day”, and it is the day of salvation. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made, Amy. Rejoice and be glad in it! 🙏