Verse of the Day for December 13

Right before this passage comes The stone which the builders refused. Something rejected was set in the most important place. it is marvellous in our eyes, the psalmist says, because no one would have planned it that way.

Then the line found on so many fridge magnets: This is the day which the LORD hath made. And straight after it, without a pause, a cry for help. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD. In Hebrew that cry is hosanna, the very word the crowds shouted when Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

So the psalm rejoices and pleads in the same breath. It does not wait for the work to be finished before it is glad, and it does not pretend the work is finished because it is glad.

Slow progress feels like a stone the builders refused. The business that is not growing. The child still struggling to read. The recovery that comes, when it comes, an inch at a time.

On the slow job in front of you, say both prayers. Thank you for this day. Save now. You are allowed to be glad and still ask for more.

Rejoicing does not require the work to be done.

Hosanna is a cry for help that became a song of praise.