Summer of Psalms

By Luke Anderson

Psalms 118:19-25

19: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

20: This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

21: I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

22: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

23: This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

24: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25: Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

This passage is rich with hope and meaning.  Every verse could be looked at as an individual promise or prophecy of what is to come.

At the end of the day we see that the Lord is sovereign in all things.

Psalms was written hundreds of years before Christ, yet we have an image of Christ in verse 22.  The stone is an image of Christ. The world cast Him aside, yet He was and is the foundation God builds His church upon.

God does not need the perfect to accomplish His will. He needs the willing! Verse 23 says, “This is the Lord’s doing.”  It IS marvelous in our eyes how He can take average and broken people to advance His kingdom!

Verse 24 is a special verse in my own family.  There is a popular song called “This is the Day that the Lord has Made”.  If you are unfamiliar with it, you can find it on YouTube.  It puts the words of verse 24 into song.

When our kids get up in the morning and are sometimes grumpy, (shocking, I know!) I have them sing this song.  It is a powerful verse that gives meaning to the day.  This is just not another random day that we need to get through.

This IS the day that the LORD has made; for us! There is meaning and significance in this day.  The Lord has ordainedthis day to happen from the beginning of time.  He has a plan specifically for you today that fits in His greater plan.

My dad would often say to me. “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life!” As annoying as it was when I was thinking only of myself and thinking how hard the day was going to be for me, the truth is, every morning is an opportunity for a new start.

Let us instead rejoice AND be glad in it! He is our King and our Redeemer. Verse 25 shows us how we can cry out to God to save us and give us success over our selfishness and inward thinking.