Thoughts on Today’s Text
In Israel, Psalm 118 was read on the Feast of Tabernacles, when Jews to this day build temporary little shelters, and recall their transient path through the wilderness. We have not arrived. We are on pilgrimage here; this is not our final destination. We are headed someplace, and the dawning of all that is of God is not yet.
And so how do we live in the meantime? Psalm 118 says the Lord is “my strength and my song” — not one or the other, but both.
Psalm 118 didn’t intend to speak of the Lord crafting each individual day. But the Christian life would be immeasurably enriched if, when the alarm clock tolls in the morning, you could hit the off button, swivel your feet to the floor, stand up, take a good breath, and say “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” and perhaps reiterate this most faithful thought throughout the day.
A day can feel onerous, or perhaps like a leaky sieve, minutes slipping away, too much to do, rushing. But the day is God’s. Each day is a precious gift, not for you to consume or cram full, but to delight in God the giver of the day, to serve the God who gave you the time. Mother Teresa urged us, “Try to feel the need for prayer often during the day.”