Verse of the Day for December 10

Psalm eighty nine starts with singing and ends with a complaint. Further down, Ethan the singer tells God he has made void the covenant and thrown the crown to the ground. The man who wrote these joyful verses was under real pressure, and he did not hide it.

That makes verse fifteen more striking. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. The joyful sound was probably the trumpet of the festivals, the call to gather. Blessed are those who recognise it.

Under pressure, we usually stop listening for it. We hear the bills, the diagnosis, the edge in the boss's voice. The joyful sound is still being blown, but it is drowned out.

Ethan anchors his joy in something underneath the circumstances. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. The foundation does not crack when your week does.

If you are sitting in a hospital corridor or a tense meeting today, listen for one sound of grace. A kind nurse. A message from a friend. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and the name is still the same name in the corridor.

You can know the joyful sound and still have honest complaints.

God's throne stands on justice, not on how your week is going.