Psalm 118:24, This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Whenever I read or hear this verse quoted, it takes me back to when I was in my early 20’s, when I had surgery on my ankles due to old basketball injuries.  I had to stay in the hospital for five days for each surgery, and when they did the second surgery, I was put in a room with a precious older lady. My first full day in the room after surgery, as I was sitting on my bed, with my foot in a cast propped up high, only the two of us were in the room, and I was trying to distract myself from the pain by reading, so I wouldn’t wake her. She about scared me to death! All of a sudden, she sat straight up and said, “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it,” and then she fell straight back sound asleep! I just sat there for a moment and decided I would just hope that meant that she was a Christian because, well, obviously I couldn’t run, and at least it was a Bible verse, and let’s face it ~ we were going to be together for a few days, so I decided to hope and pray for the best. (I was young…)

I can laugh now at my reaction, but now it also makes me stop and think about how embedded in her mind that verse must have been for that to happen. She did some other things during my stay that make me think now that she was probably suffering from Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia; not recognizing family when they came and waking me up, calling out multitudes of different guys’ names in the middle of the night. I wondered how many sons she must have had, but apparently, she was trying to remember my name because she wanted me to call the nurse, because she didn’t remember how to. I have said all of that to say ~ whatever she was dealing with in her mind, the Word of God still flowed out of her mouth, which to me also says that His Word was in her heart. She had memorized scripture, and when nothing else she was saying made any sense at all ~ His Word was loud and clear! Wow! What a blessing! It makes me think that if there was no other reason to memorize scripture than for it to be the thing that we would be speaking when nothing else we could say or do made sense to the world and people around us, that is reason enough. 

God’s Word is powerful and able to save on so many levels we don’t even comprehend. I encourage you to memorize it even if it is just a verse here and a verse there, or write it out, verse by verse or chapter by chapter, so it sticks in your mind. Never underestimate the impact of even just one verse in someone else’s life! We are surrounded by a world full of lost people who need the truth of His words.

So, as we go about our day today, let’s keep this verse in our hearts and minds so we remember that “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”