A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 54:3

Positioned gracefully across the Book of Psalms is a string of seventy-one pearls, lovely beads of wisdom followed by the admonition SELAH which means, “Pause, think on these things, meditate.”

Psalm 54:3 “Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life—men without regard for God. Selah.”

Meditation

Does this pearl say that all men who do not regard God are ruthless? No.

When I came to faith in Jesus Christ in my late twenties, I had already formed heart friendships with many people whom I love to this day. While certainly not ruthless people, some of them are antagonistic to God, having no understanding or regard for him at all. They don’t comprehend that when they slight him, they slight me.

Yet, God reminds me that I came from similar stock. Before my conversion, I was hateful to him and all that he represented.

Furthermore, God has prompted me to continue to love these “strangers” of the kingdom of God, to model Jesus before them, and to pray that they will come to know him. The deep desire of my heart is that these dear ones will come to know my “First Love” as their own.

SELAH

Look up: II Peter 3:9; Luke 7:33-35; Revelation 2:4