What can we say? 2020 is a year like no other. Everything we trusted (here on earth) has changed. For those who trusted in their health, finances, jobs, etc everything changed for everyone. The effects have continued to reverberate as we inch closer to the end of this year. The results, we may never fully comprehended until perhaps years later.
This morning during prayer while contemplating the recent passing of two pastors of our fellowship along with the passing of a friend and while keeping in mind the passing of my uncle (whose passing is still just as fresh and painful), along with a very soon departure of a place that holds a huge spiritual, memorable, and emotional connection for me, the Lord put a word in my heart: This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).
This verse is sandwiched with two bookend verses which declare the same: Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever (Psalm 118:1 and 29). Often when we read the Bible we read it with a singular emotion. But given the tone set by God this morning in light of 2020 being the year of considerable changes. With that mood, if we were to read verse one again, we can sense a sigh, a lament, an almost a regret or like a man hanging onto reality by his fingertips like a man tiringly hanging on rock knowing any mistake may be the last. The world is in chaos of the author with sweeping emotion and frequent reminder of who God is despite the hurricane-force winds surrounding his life.
So when the psalmist ended the psalm, confidence is restored. A sense of relief is now in the heart. We can make it. We see our climbing no longer grasping for life on the edge of the cliff but a man who has lifted himself surely on the top and now walking away with a sense of accomplishment and peace. The sigh is now of one of relief. We do have victory in the Lord.
2020 may be a year of considerable changes and loss, but “This is the day that the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”