Some days feel ordinary, others feel overwhelming, but Scripture reminds us that each day is handcrafted by the Lord Himself. Today is not random, not wasted, and not beyond His reach. The psalmist declares that the day in front of us is God’s doing, and that there is a right response: to rejoice and be glad in it. That means our attitude is not dictated by circumstances, but by the character and promises of the One who reigns over every sunrise.

This Day Is Designed by God

“This is the day that the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). That declaration is more than a nice slogan for a coffee mug; it is a confession of faith in God’s sovereignty. The psalmist looks at the unfolding of events—some of them difficult—and still calls this day God’s workmanship. That means your schedule, your interruptions, your challenges, and your blessings all fall under His wise, loving rule. Nothing about today catches Him off guard.

Lamentations 3:22–23 says, “Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!”. Every morning is a fresh delivery of mercy at your doorstep. You woke up today because God decided to keep you, sustain you, and meet you again with compassion. When you see the day as designed by Him, even the hard parts become places to search for His purposes and His presence.

Rejoicing Is a Battle of the Will

Notice that Psalm 118:24 says, “we will rejoice and be glad in it”. That language is the language of resolve, not of mere reaction. The psalmist does not say, “If everything goes my way, I might rejoice.” He makes a decision in advance: because God made this day, I will respond with joy. This is where faith becomes practical. Rejoicing is not pretending everything is easy; it is choosing to anchor your heart in what is eternally true rather than what is temporarily painful.

Philippians 4:4 echoes this call: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”. The command is not to rejoice in circumstances, but “in the Lord.” You may not be able to celebrate every situation, but you can always celebrate the Savior who is with you in every situation. That means when anxiety rises, you preach to your own heart: The Lord rules this day. The Lord loves me in this day. The Lord is enough for this day. Rejoicing becomes an act of spiritual warfare against fear, self-pity, and complaining.

Seeing Today Through the Lens of the Gospel

Psalm 118 is a messianic psalm, pointing forward to Christ. Just a few verses earlier we read, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22), a verse applied directly to Jesus in the New Testament (see Matthew 21:42). The day the Lord has made finds its highest fulfillment in the day of Jesus’ death and resurrection. From a human perspective, that day looked like defeat and darkness; from God’s perspective, it was the day of ultimate victory and salvation.

If God could take the worst day in history—the crucifixion of His Son—and turn it into the best news for sinners, you can trust Him with this day as well. Romans 8:32 reminds you, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?”. The cross proves His love; the empty tomb proves His power. When you look at today through the lens of the gospel, you can step into it with confidence: forgiven, adopted, secure, and sent on mission. This is the day the risen Lord walks with you.

Lord, thank You for making this day and filling it with Your mercy and purpose; help me to choose rejoicing, to trust Your sovereignty, and to walk in obedient faith in every moment You give me today.

If you are a discouraged and defeated Christian believer, you may have accepted the rationalization that your condition is "normal for all Christians." You may now be content with the position that the progressive, victorious Christian life may be suitable for a few Christian - but not for you! You have been to Bible conferences; you have been to the altar-but the blessings are for someone else. Now, that attitude on the part of Christian believers is neither modesty nor meekness. It is a chronic discouragement resulting from unbelief. It is rather like those who have been sick for so long that they no longer believe they can get well. Jesus is still saying, as He said to the man lying by the gate at the Jerusalem pool, "Do you want to be made whole?" Jesus made him whole-because of his desire! His need was great, but he had never lapsed into that state of chronic discouragement.

As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness. - Psalm 17:15

The "sleeper in Christ" is not unconscious. He is parted from the outer world; he is unaware of externals. When Stephen knelt below the old wall, and was surrounded by howling fanatics that slew him, one moment he was gashed with stones and tortured, and the next " he fell on sleep." They might howl, and the stones fly as they would, and he was all unaware of it. Like Jonah sleeping in the hold, what mattered the howling of the storm to him? But separation from externals does not mean suspense of life or of consciousness; and the slumberer often dreams, and is aware of himself persistently throughout his slumber. Nay! some of his faculties are set at liberty to work more energetically because his connection with the outer world is for the time suspended.

Scripture, as it seems to me, distinctly carries this limitation of the emblem. For what does it mean when the Apostle says, "to depart . . . to be with Christ is far better "? Surely he that thus spoke conceived that these two things were contemporaneous, " the departing and the being with Him." And surely he who thus spoke could not have conceived that a millennium-long parenthesis of slumberous unconsciousness was to intervene between the moment of his decease and the moment of his fellowship with Jesus. How could a man prefer that dormant state to the state here, of working for and living with the Lord? Surely, being with Him must mean that we know where we are and who is our companion.

And what does that text mean, " Ye are come unto the spirits of just men made perfect,"’ unless it means that of these two classes of persons who are thus regarded as brought into living fellowship, each is aware of the other? Does perfecting of the spirit mean the smiting of the spirit into unconsciousness? Surely not, and surely in the face of such words as these we must recognize the fact that, however limited and imperfect may be the present connection with the disembodied dead, who sleep in Christ, with external things - they know themselves, they know their home and their companions, and they know the blessedness in which they are lapped.

We have also the idea of awaking. The pagans said, as indeed one of their poets has it, "Suns can sink and return, but for us, when our brief light sinks, there is but one perpetual night of slumber." The Christian idea of death is that it is transitory as a sleep in the morning, and sure to end. As St. Augustine says somewhere, "Wherefore are they called sleepers but because in the day of the Lord they will be re-awakened."