In the Lord I Take Refuge: 31 Days in the PsalmsSample

This psalm is saturated with joy. Ponder the language. Note the exclamations and exultations. Out of deep “distress” (v. 5), the Lord has met and delivered the psalmist. It seemed like the whole world was against him (vv. 10–13). But God himself was the psalmist’s “strength” and “song” (v. 14).

Not only has God rescued the psalmist out of deadly peril, but he also has worked a remarkable reversal so that such peril has been transformed into triumph; the valley has become the mountaintop. This is what the psalmist means when he declares, “Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous” (v. 15). God has worked “valiantly” (vv. 15–16). This is also what is meant in verse 22: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The stone thrown onto the rubble heap as useless has now become the most important building block of all, the very cornerstone.

This is how God works. He comes near to us in all our distress, taking what the world rejects and dignifying us with eternal significance. It is not our doing in any way. It is all of grace: “This is the Lord’s doing” (v. 23). And we marvel at this grace. Most of all, we stand in awe of the supreme instance of his taking what the world rejected and turning it into an occasion for eternal significance—Jesus Christ, rejected by the religious elite, has become the cornerstone of the true and final temple, the church, of which each of us believers is a fellow stone (Matt. 21:42; Eph. 2:19–20).

Have you been rejected today by someone who ought to have accepted you? You are in good company. Take heart. God draws near to you in his rejected, crucified Son.