Verse of the Day for July 11

People reach for this psalm at the start of things. Harvest services, dedications, the first Sunday in a new building. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

But the middle verb is an unglamorous one. Serve the LORD with gladness. Serve is a word for daily labour, the kind done in the same place by the same hands for years. The psalm puts gladness inside service, not only inside celebration.

And when it gives the reason, the reason is not a feeling. Know ye that the LORD he is God. Know. Then the fact underneath everything: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We did not make ourselves, so we do not have to keep ourselves excited either.

Excitement fades from every good thing. The new job, the new church, the first months of marriage, the season when prayer felt warm. What is left is the knowing. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture, whether or not we feel it this week.

So if you are sweeping the same church floor you swept last year, or opening the shop again before dawn, you can still bring a song. Not because it is thrilling. Because you know whose you are.

Gladness can live in a routine as well as in a celebration.

You did not make yourself, and you do not have to hold yourself up.