This is the Day that the Lord has Made

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118.24

The 98th most commonly used English word according to Wikipedia is the word “day.” Scanning the list, I saw mostly articles and pronouns. The only nouns used more often were: “time” (55), “people” (61), “year” (63) and “work” (87). So – we use the word all the time – I suppose for the simple reason that happens all the time.

So what does this common word mean?

Ironically, the word’s meaning is astronomical. A “day” describes the rotation of the earth once around. The whole world turns away from the sun and comes round to face the sun. That is a day. So for the Lord to make a common day – He literally has to move heaven and earth.

Think about this. Every day, God dead-lifts entire mountain ranges across an 8000 mile arc. Every day, God hauls the Seven Seas up and over the horizon. Each rotation, the Sun burns 91 billion gallons of Hydrogen to warm our head and light our way as we walk out of the house. The feat is, it really is, “astronomical.”  Why such extravagance? Why would God move heaven and earth in order to make our day?

Because He loves us.

God made a place for us. He set the earth at just the right distance from the Sun so that this planet would be hospitable to us. He set the sequences and paths of the orbits to make for Day and Night. All of it designed, so that we might thrive. Every 24 hours, He moves Heaven and Earth to give us our daily light.

But we are not astonished.

We have been taught by the Materialist to think about this backwards. This mindset teaches us to think of the creation of man as incidental. Astronomy (material reality) is the product of a random Big Bang and the human being is merely an accidental burp. In this view, the Lord did not make the day. Rather – the Day (millions of them) eventually produced (through a protracted evolutionary process) a creature who conjured up god. The materialist mindset therefore reads: “This is the god that the Day has made. Let us be leery of him.”

Yet the Psalmist declares that this “day” is not accidental. It is a gift – an astronomical gift. It is the original (and continual) demonstration of the extravagant love of God for you and I. Every day we are greeted with that love. Every day is a new gift.

Therefore, my 2015 resolution: I will rise each morning and recite Psalm 118.24.

I will flutter my eyes open and instead of groaning, “Oh Lord – another day”, I will say, with whatever tone I can muster, “Oh Lord. Another day! I will rejoice and be glad in it.” I will confess the gift regardless of whether my materialist-trained brain believes it or whether my leery heart trusts it.

I will do this rote exercise with hope. Because I know that God has done more than move the earth for me. He also rolled away the stone from my tomb. God demonstrated His love for me when He died for me. He has moved more than heaven and earth – he broke hell for me too.

So yes… He loves me. I cannot explain why – but I can receive the given day and choose to rejoice and be glad in it.

Roger Edwards joined The Barnabas Center in 1991. In addition to counseling individuals and couples, Roger teaches and leads discussion groups about applying the Bible to everyday life.  He is a licensed professional counselor, holds a master’s degree in biblical counseling from Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana and earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  He is married to Jean, and they have seven children.