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 76:7-9 “You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet—when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah.”
Meditation
In Psalm 46:1-3 we talked about the things we feared, large and small, real and imagined; and we concluded that we are safe in God’s presence. Yet here the psalmist is saying that of all things God is most to be feared. In fact, he alone is to be feared. I cowered for a moment, baffled.
Then I saw it: God’s people need not fear his judgment. Yes, he will rise up to judge, even from heaven. But the judgment is not against his people, it is against those who afflict them. This is that long-awaited judgment that the psalmist repeatedly has been seeking.
Sometimes the wait seems long, the enemies strong, and the outcome wrong. It is at those times that this pearl can be picked up, examined, and enjoyed for all it’s worth.
SELAH
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