Focus: It's The Lord's Doing!

Text: Ps.118:21-24

"I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The STONE which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the DAY which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

This Psalm is loaded with the message of God's goodness and greatness. It tells us God has done something that is marvelous in our eyes, and He has brought about a day in which all of us can rejoice and celebrate. It is a day in which God has made us to witness His salvation. It is a day in which we sing and celebrate our salvation.

In the day of trouble we prayed to the Lord to save us, and now, the Lord has turned that day of trouble in which we prayed Hossana into a day in which we sing Hallelujah! He has made a day for us to praise Him for having saved us.

Now what is that doing of the Lord that is marvelous in our eyes? The Lord's doing is connected to the day or season of time in our lives when we found ourselves in a tight corner, a period of time in which we wailed before the Lord, a day of anguish, an hour of darkness, and a moment we never thought we would survive.

Joseph knew about such a day. It was a day he found himself in the midst of his own brothers who hated him as the favorite of their father. They hated him because they saw him as a boy with a corky attitude and as a spoiled brat. They hated him because he would always report them to their father for their evil deeds. They also hated him for his dreams. So that day came in which they plotted to take him out of the way. They hated him enough to even contemplate of killing him. They mistreated and manhandled him, threw him into a messy pit, and when they sighted slave traders coming their way, they quickly changed their minds about killing him, and decided instead to sell him off for easy gain. Brothers sold their own brother into slavery.

Joseph was totally rejected. In the words of Jacob his father, "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him" (Gen.49:23). In the words of the psalmist, "He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him" (Ps.105:17-18). Joseph ended up in Egypt as a slave. It was a sad moment for him - a period of great darkness. Even when he shared his dreams, we read that his father rebuked him, saying, "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him…" (Gen.37:10-11). His brothers said, "Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words" (Gen.37:8). Joseph was a rejected stone. He was hated and envied. He was maltreated, tortured and sold for gain. His brothers made profit off him.

But here is the good news: God was behind all that happened to Joseph. He was behind the scenes making sure that every plot of theirs served as His own ploy to achieve a good end. God was behind Joseph's pain, not as its cause but as its user. The Lord's doing is that the rejected stone turned out to be the chief cornerstone. Joseph later said to his brothers, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Gen.50:20). Amazing! Isn't it? They THOUGHT evil against him, but God MEANT it good. 

God turned evil to good. That is marvelous in our eyes. God took his pain and tears and wove it into a tapestry of beauty. It didn't end their way but God's way. That is marvelous in our eyes. The words 'thought' and 'meant' are the same word in the Hebrew. That means that God used their evil machinations as His raw materials to manufacture a miracle. He turned what seemed like a tragedy into a fitting comedy. That is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

What the Lord has done has created for us a day of praise and gladness. God has made a seemingly bad day into a wonderfully good day.

David also knew such a day. He was looked down upon and rejected by his family. No one gave him a chance. In the eyes of the members of his family he amounted to nothing. He was worth nothing. He was only good at taking care of animals in the field. He went through a severe time of rejection and loneliness. But God turned his story around. Saul never gave him a chance, but he killed Goliath. His family didn't give him a chance at the throne, but he became the greatest and noblest king of Israel. God moved him from the field as a shepherd boy to the throne of Israel as the king. And God has made his throne to last forever. Jesus Christ the seed of David will sit on that throne forever and ever.

Jesus Christ was also rejected, but He rose above the rejections of men and became the Lord of glory. They crucified Him, but He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, and from there He is coming back to the earth to reign over all the world on David's throne. The slain Lamb on the cross is now the Lord on the throne. The Lamb reigns over all.

The day you wake up and discover that Satan doesn't have the last laugh or the last word is the day that the Lord has made. The day you realize that you are more than a conqueror and that affliction will not arise for the second time, that is the day that the Lord has made. The day God answers your prayer and takes away your sorrow, that is the day that the Lord has made.

God has designed a day of wonder for you. God has arranged a season of celebration for you. A marvelous day is coming for you. A day of salvation! A day of joy! A day of glory! A day of praise! God is moving you from a day of prayer to a day of praise. God is taking you from the day you prayed for your salvation to the day you will celebrate your Savior. That day is coming when it shall be said of you like Moses, "THIS Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the SAME did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush" (Act.7:35). 

It's going to be a day in which you will look around and realize that your story has been changed. It's going to be a day so unique, so distinguished, so outstanding, and so special! You will marvel. You will laugh. You will experience unspeakable joy. You will leap, dance, and shout for joy. You will glorify your God. You will celebrate the goodness and greatness of your God. Glory!!!

What the Lord is about to do in your life will be marvelous in your eyes. In Christ the rejected has become the elected. The abandoned has become the selected. In Christ God has chosen the foolish, the weak, the despised, the base, and the nonentity. Satan has woven an evil plan against you, but God will see to it that it never sees the light of day. God has commanded that the filthy garment be taken off you, and a befitting one be put on you. You are getting the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You are getting beauty for ashes. Hallelujah! The Lord's doing shall be marvelous in your eyes. Amen!!!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter