HE MADE US, NOT WE OURSELVES

HE MADE US, NOT WE OURSELVES

(February 4)

“Shout with jubilation unto God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with rejoicing. Know that the Lord himself is our God; it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, into his courts with hymns; give thanks unto him. Praise his name, for the Lord is good; his mercy endures forever, and his truth unto generation and generation.” (Ps 99/100, Septuagint-translation)

We didn’t make ourselves, – Someone Else went to that trouble. Someone very good, Whose mercy and truth endure, unchangeably and forever. Someone Who invites us, day after day, and from generation to generation, to “come before His presence with rejoicing.” Because we are not on our own, nor are we our own, like unwanted orphans, or children of parents who made a “mistake.” No, God made us, because He wanted us, and continues to want us to be His, as He is ours, in His Self-offering goodness.

Let me carry this happy thought with me today, that I am very much wanted, by the One Who made me, and Who welcomes me, anytime, “into His courts.” I come before His presence this morning, giving heartfelt thanks to my gladsome Lord with gladness. “Praise his name, for the Lord is good.”