Wednesday, October 7, 2026
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Historical Context
Psalm 118 carries no heading naming its author or the time it was written. What we have is the psalm’s own account. A man speaks of a rescue he has just come through, and by the end of the psalm other voices join him in speaking of it.
He says nations surrounded him like a swarm of bees, pushing him back so hard he should have fallen. He says the LORD disciplined him severely but did not hand him over to death. From that distress, he called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him.
He asks for the gates to be opened so he can go in and give thanks, because the LORD has answered him and become his rescue. Then the psalm presents a picture of reversal: a stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. He calls it the LORD’s doing, and marvelous.
From this point on, the voice is no longer his alone. Others join him, treating what happened that day as worth pausing for. The same voices immediately ask to be saved and helped again, because the rescue is real and the need has not ended.
Reflection
The speaker names a specific day: the day the LORD rescued him. That is exactly why it calls for joy.
You could read your own life the same way. Joy does not have to come from everything being fine overall. It can come from something specific: a day you called out and were actually answered, a rescue you can still point to. Naming that day and remembering it gives your joy something solid to stand on.
The psalm does not stop at celebration, either. The same voices who are rejoicing turn right around and ask for help again. Being rescued once did not end their need, so they kept asking.