25th. January. 2022. Daily Devotion.
Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
Psalm 118:19-24
This psalm is the source of the charming little song, “This is the day the Lord has made.” Most people, when they sing it, think that they are talking about today; they sing it as a way to rejoice in the day that God has given them, and the sentiment is laudable. But technically, the phrase refers to the coming of Christ: if one wanted to tie it to a specific day, the day of His resurrection, or possibly the day of His birth, would be good choices. Really, though, “day” is used more generally to refer to the time period when Christ came to us.
What reason does the psalm give for this remarkable salvation, sent to us by God? Praise. Just as Paul’s epistles tell us that salvation came ultimately by faith, so the psalmist tells us that salvation came from an act of faith, the praising of God. Let us praise His Holy Name!
For Each New Morning
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
I thank thee. Amen. (From a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Meditation
“We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfil God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.” ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen
For Those Praying with Me Heavenly Father, there are people praying with me, right now, whom I will never meet. I don’t know their names, or what country they live in, or what they may look like, but I will know their souls, for we are brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that we might be united in the Holy Spirit, and that I will know and feel the kinship and love, in my spirit, of those who share these prayers with me. Amen.
A Prayer for Hope in Lasting Peace
Father God, we know that You are the giver of all good things, including times of peace. Yet, even amid peaceful times, some seek to cause upheaval and war on the Earth. Therefore, we ask that You allow the peace on Earth to endure through the schemes of these wicked people. Give us hope in the establishment of Your kingdom. Let Your peace that surpasses all understanding keep all the Earth in Christ. Amen.
