Salmos 118

Salmos 118

Morgan has a sermon on Psalm 118:24 entitled Ten Ways to Lift Your Spirits. Here is his closing summary: I’d like to suggest to you today that if you will: Rejoice in the Lord Accentuate the Positive and Count Your Blessings Get Proper Rest Do Something for Someone Else Listen to Happy Music Exercise Make up your Mind to be Happy & Enthusiastic Take a Break and Do a Little Something for Yourself Every Day Claim the Promises of God And Cast your Burden on Lord -- it will become overwhelmingly possible for you to awaken each morning and say: This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. (Read Pastor Morgan's discussion of each of these "10 Ways" to life your spirit.) Take a pause from your hectic "day" to recall (and sing about) the truth that... This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made by Isaac Watts This is the day the Lord hath made; He calls the hours His own; Let Heav’n rejoice, let earth be glad, And praise surround the throne. Today He rose and left the dead, And Satan’s empire fell; Today the saints His triumphs spread, And all His wonders tell. Hosanna to th’anointed King, To David’s holy Son; Help us, O Lord; descend and bring Salvation from Thy throne. Blest be the Lord, who comes to men With messages of grace; Who comes in God His Father’s Name, To save our sinful race. Hosanna in the highest strains The Church on earth can raise; The highest heav’ns, in which He reigns, Shall give Him nobler praise. Or for a lighter, but still uplifting version, sing along with the little children This is day that the Lord has made! Another Version My Favorite Old Maranatha Version (EnJOY!) Illustration - A story is told about a vendor who sold bagels for 50 cents each at a street corner food stand. A jogger ran past and threw a couple of quarters into the bucket but didn’t take a bagel. He did the same thing every day for months. One day, as the jogger was passing by, the vendor stopped him. The jogger asked, “You probably want to know why I always put money in but never take a bagel, don’t you?” “No,” said the vendor. “I just wanted to tell you that the bagels have gone up to 60 cents.” Too often, as believers, we treat God with that same kind of attitude. Not only are we ungrateful for what He’s given us—but we want more. Somehow we feel that God owes us good health, a comfortable life, material blessings. Of course, God doesn’t owe us anything, yet He gives us everything. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Here dies another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands, and the great world round me. And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?” The psalmist said, “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). Each day, whether good or bad, is one more gift from our God. Our grateful response should be to live to please Him. ( Cindy Hess Kasper ) Illustration - Dr. F. W. Boreham (See Boreham's full story) tells about his stay in a quaint old cottage in England occupied by a minister’s widow. She had given him her bedroom and in the morning when he pulled up the blind, he saw that into the glass of the windowpane had been cut the words: “This is the day.” He asked the elderly lady about it at breakfast. She explained that she had had a lot of trouble in her time and was always afraid of what was going to happen tomorrow. One day she read the words of the above text. It occurred to her that it meant any day, this day. “Why should I be afraid of the days if He makes them?” So the widow scratched the words as well as she could in the windowpane, so that every time she drew her blind in the morning she was reminded that “This is the day.” Realizing the Lord made it, she was no longer afraid. (10,000 Sermon Illustrations) Bob Gass has a devotional on Psalm 118:24 in his book A Fresh Word for Today entitled Slow Down and Live - This is the day which the LORD hath made. (Psalms 118:24) In his great book, Secrets of the Journey, Dr. Mike Murdock says, “Today should be savored, not gulped down. If you don’t learn how to stop and enjoy today, you’ll never enjoy one day of the future either.” James says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14, NIV). I’m told that when one of England’s ancient queens was dying, she offered half of her kingdom to the royal physicians if they could give her six more months to live. They couldn’t. This morning God deposited 1,440 minutes into your account (the number in one day). You can invest them, but you can’t save them. Take a look at yesterday’s ledger; it’s a prophecy of your future, unless you rise up and take control of your time. Have you any idea how much time you’ve spent watching TV lately? Relaxing is one thing, vegetating is another. Start your day the way you intend to continue it—prayerfully! David said, “In the morning, I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Psalms 5:3, NIV). After you’ve talked to God, your whole outlook for the day will change. You have the same amount of time David did, so just set some priorities. If you don’t like what you’re getting—change what you’re doing! TAKE SOME TIME TODAY AND ASK GOD TO HELP YOU ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF THIS DAY! Robert Morgan has a devotional related to Psalm 118:24 in his book From this Verse (Recommended) entitled Its Thin Gray Hair - For many years, the bleached skull of James Guthrie looked down on the crowds at Netherbow Port, horrifying the little boy who sometimes couldn’t keep from glancing up at his father’s head. Guthrie’s head and hands had been nailed there by Scottish authorities following his execution. In life, Guthrie had been unflappable and self-possessed, having a knack for stilling arguments and making peace. He taught philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and preached the gospel in the Scottish town of Stirling. But he believed that Christ—not the Scottish king—should rule the church, and for that he was eventually arrested on charges of treason. At his trial, Guthrie assured the crown that, while he respected its civil authority, he didn’t believe the king should control church affairs. For that, he was sentenced to die. On the day of his execution, June 1, 1661, he rose about four A.M. for worship, as unflappable as ever. Psalm 118 was on his mind, and when someone asked how he felt, he replied with the words of verse 24: “Very well. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” His five-year-old son was brought to him, and, taking the boy on his knee, he imparted final expressions of fatherly love and counsel (which must have been effective, for young William later became a minister himself). Guthrie was then hanged and his head affixed on Netherbow Port. He was later immortalized in this old Covenanter poem: They have set his head on the Netherbow, To scorch in the summer air; And months go by, and the winter’s snow Falls white on its thin gray hair. And still that same look that in death he wore Is sealed on the solemn brow— A look of one who has travailed sore, But whose pangs were ended now. Steven Cole on how to have joy in circumstances otherwise not conducive! - James Boice (Psalms [Baker], 3:963-964) tells of how three Protestant martyrs in France relied on Psalm 118 as they faced execution. Louis Rang, a Huguenot pastor, was condemned to die in Grenoble in 1745. He was offered life if he would renounce his faith, but he rejected the offer. He was led to the scaffold singing a French versification of Psalm 118:24, which might be translated, “Here now is the happy day for which we have been waiting. Sing praise to God who gives us joy and pleasures unabating.” A few weeks later, another Huguenot pastor, Jacque Roger, also strengthened himself with this verse. He was 70 years old and had escaped his enemies for nearly 40 years. He spent his last days in prison encouraging other Protestant pastors to remain true to the faith. As he was led to his execution, he also sang the same verse that Louis Rang had sung just weeks before. The last of the Huguenot martyrs in France was Francois Rochette, who died in 1762, 17 years after Rang and Roger. He too was offered freedom if he renounced his faith. He too refused. He also mounted the scaffold singing, “Here now is the happy day for which we have been waiting.” We may or may not face martyrdom for our faith, but we all face various trials. If you have experienced God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, then you should be filled with joy and thanksgiving. You should be able to say (Psalm 118:28-29), “You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my God, I extol You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Robert Morgan - This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. —Psalm 118:24 - God is in the day-making business. The Ancient of Days is the Manufacturer of Days. He has a continually running conveyer belt stretching from the sun to the earth and from heaven to this world. One new day rolls off God’s assembly line every twenty-four hours, right on schedule, each one unique. We rise from bed each day knowing that an endless succession of sunrises and sunsets come from the workbench of His will, all of them individually crafted, packaged with grace, wrapped in love. This verse reminds us that God’s compassions never fail; they are new every morning, for great is His faithfulness. Goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives; and as our days may demand shall our strength ever be. In its context Psalm 118:24 is Messianic. The author composed this psalm to be sung by the crowds approaching the temple during great worship festivals in Jerusalem; and this is the song the children sang as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He is the stone, rejected by the builders, who became the cornerstone (Ps 118:22-24). In his book Shadows on the Wall, devotional writer F. W. Boreham told of preaching in a particular church during his college days. His lodgings were with Old Bessie, the elderly widow of the former pastor; and Boreham was given the room she normally occupied. He rose the next morning and threw open the blinds. There, etched in the glass, were the words, “THIS IS THE DAY.” At breakfast he asked her about it. “I had a lot of trouble in my time,” she explained, “and I am a great one to worry. I was always afraid of what was going to happen tomorrow. And each morning when I woke up I felt as though I had the weight of the world upon me. Then one day, when I was very upset about things, I sat down and read my Bible. It happened that I was reading the 118th Psalm. When I came to the 24th verse, I stopped. This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.... It flashed upon me like a burst of sunshine on a gloomy day.” Snatching up a glass-cutting tool from the kitchen, Old Bessie ran upstairs and scrawled the words on the windowpane. “There!” she thought. “Now I shall see that little bit of Bible every morning when I draw up the blind, and I will say to myself, ‘This is the day!’” (Ed: See Boreham's full story) Memory Tip - The verse reference is easy to remember. Each day is composed of twenty-four hours the Lord has made—Psalm 118:24. (100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know By Heart - highly recommended) Henry