Psalm 118 is titled “Thanksgiving for Victory.” Though this was probably a battle or some other type of opposition, it raises a question in my mind of how thankful am I when God keeps me from doing wrong? We’ve all been there, you want to do something, you have a good idea you shouldn’t, but it sounds like fun. Just when you get ready to follow your desires, something (it’s God, we may just not want to admit it) comes up and stops the whole thing.

We know that we would have sinned, but are we thankful that God stopped us? Do I thank God for keeping me from doing something stupid, or do I gripe because “I never get to have any fun?” With all that said, it is just an aside from what I started out thinking about.

Verse 24 of that Psalm says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Do you wake up thankful and rejoicing that God has made another day for you? I don’t. I won’t deny that, but I’m not happy about it, either. Too often, drudgery takes the place of rejoicing.

Why do we claim to want to be happy, and yet replace joy, the purest happiness, with something that brings us down? Why do we not rejoice in what God has done?