Verse of the day: Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in
it.
Let us
stop for a moment and ask ourselves, “How did I wake up this morning? Did I
wake up in a bad mood for no apparent reason? Did I wake up stressed before my
feet even hit the floor? Did I allow my troubles, trials, or challenging
circumstances to rob me of a good night’s sleep because I failed to bring it to
the Lord in prayer? Did I pray about my situation, but still held on to it,
causing me to continue stressing about it? Have I lost sight of the fact that
God woke me up this morning, even though I was not guaranteed today yesterday?”
Some of us even allow the weather, and not God, dictate whether or not our day
is going to be good or bad. Life is short and we are not promised tomorrow (Jm
4:13-17). If we do anything short of beginning our day by thanking God for His
blessings in our lives and for the fact that He gave us another day, then we
are setting ourselves up to live a miserable day, focused on every, besides the
Lord, that troubles us. If we do anything short of waking up and praising God
for His goodness, we set ourselves up to allow the enemy to fill our minds with
doubts and thoughts of what might happen, that in reality may never come to
pass. Every day that we are given is a new canvass for us to paint something
on. We can fill it with thanksgiving, praise, and good works motivated by our
faith, God’s grace, and appreciation for the eternal life we have been given,
even though we do not deserve it; or we can fill our day with worry, stress,
bitterness, anger, and all that will cause us to respond improperly, leading to
the ruin of our testimony and misrepresentation of the One we represent here on
earth, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The fact of the matter is that we must
make a conscious effort to remind ourselves that each day is truly a gift from
God and we must purpose to fill it with the peace and joy that only God can
give us in Christ (Jn 14:27). The Psalmist had much to be grateful for as the
Lord had answered his prayers and delivered him (v. 5). He put his trust in the
Lord, and not in men (v. 8-9). The Lord delivered him, was his strength, and
his salvation (v. 10-14). Our downfall in failing to celebrate a new day, the
way that we should, is that we focus on what we cannot control or predict; that
is, what will happen tomorrow, or even later in this new day. We therefore
worry and stress over that which is in the hands of the One who has already
proven His faithfulness. The Psalmist focused on all the good the God did, even
in the midst of all his troubles. We must learn to keep our eyes on Jesus,
remind ourselves that the Spirit is in us, and that our God has promised to
always be with us and that He will be our Helper (Heb 13:5-6). Even though we
may not see the immediate victory, in Christ we have been promised the victory
(Jn 16:33), and that should be enough to cause us to rejoice and be glad,
regardless of what our circumstances may look like to us. The greatest victory
we who are born again have tasted is our victory over sin and death. This
victory has come to us in Christ when we called upon Him in faith. Therefore, anything
we experience for the remainder of our time here (whether He calls us home or
comes back to get us all) is not to be compared to what He has in store for us
when we are finally with Him (1 Pt 1:3-9; Jm 1:2). The Word of God reminds us
that we are not to worry about today or tomorrow, but trust Him for whatever we
will need, both today and tomorrow (Mt 6:25-34). We may not always understand
what God is doing, but we are not to lean on our own understanding, but submit
all our ways to Him, and trust Him for the outcome (Pro 3:5-6). When we begin
to feel anxious, we are to bring it to Him in prayer so that the peace of God
that passes all understanding can guard our hearts and minds in Christ (Phil
4:6-7). We are to cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Pt
5:7). If we have all these promises to fill each day, how can we not then
recognize that this day was made by Him, under His full control, and thereby be
able to rejoice and be glad in it? There are many things that can cause our day
to go “sideways”. However, if we keep our eyes on Him, nothing will move us or
defeat us. We may suffer a temporary failure or loss, but the real failure is
the failure to recognize that in Christ we have already won, and in Him we have
every reason to live a life of joy and peace regardless of what happens; not because
of our ability to overcome, but because in Him we have overcome, and He is over
all. Our ability or failure to rejoice and be glad comes down to what we choose
to put our focus on. Let it be Jesus.
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