A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 143:6

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 143:6 “I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.  Selah.”

Meditation

How fitting that this last pearl focuses on a personal relationship with you, my Father.  In the final analysis, that’s what life is all about, a time to be born and a time to die . . . and a time to be born again, and live forever—with you.

Without regular drinks from your streams of living water, your children dry up like parched land.  My soul turns arid to the point where nothing will grow.  So fill my cup, Lord, from your springs.

I spread out my hands to you, palms up, to receive your love, your goodwill, your blessing, your help. My need for you is everlasting.

I raise my hands to you, palms out, lifting them in joyful adoration.  You are worthy of the purest praise I can offer.  My soul thirsts for you and my heart hungers for heaven.

SELAH

Look up: John 4:14; Ecclesiastes 3:2; John 3:16; Psalm 42:1; Matthew 5:6

 

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 84:4

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 84:4 “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.  Selah.”

Meditation

I want to live in God’s house.  I want to praise him forever.  I’ll take those blessings!

What could be sweeter than hearing the Word from the lips of its Author?  What could thrill more than standing beside my Savior singing praises to our Father? 

I want to learn to speak the heavenly language and form friendships with the angels.  I try to imagine meeting the patriarchs and laughing with them.

In heaven I’ll rejoice when I see aborted children alive and well—and when I recognize my loved ones and do some “catching up.”

In heaven I’ll learn to navigate the heavens,

            experience the reality of equality in Jesus

                        enjoy God’s eternal and unbroken presence.

All of these blessings and more . . . so much more!

SELAH

Look up: Psalm 23:6; Revelation 22:3; I Corinthians 13:1;

II Samuel 12:19-23; Galatians 3:28

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 67:1

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 67:1 “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us.  Selah.”

Meditation

Our grandson Luke, learning to walk, would look up at daddy’s face and find great encouragement in Mike’s smiles and words of blessing.  Pretty soon, the little guy was off . . . and running, exercising his newfound independence.

However independent we eventually become, we never outgrow our need for God; for it’s in leaving the safety of home that many find the world to be a very unfriendly place—so unfriendly, at times, that we could easily lose our balance and fall.

It is then that we, like little Luke, can find encouragement in our Father’s face, experiencing his blessings and his grace.  It is then that we regain our composure, and press on.

SELAH

Look up: Numbers 6:25; Psalm 67:1; 104:15; Philippians 3:12

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 24:3-6

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 24:3-6 “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah.”

Meditation:

Who gets into God’s holy place? The innocent, those with clean hands and pure hearts, those who seek God’s face. The innocent will receive God’s blessing.

How many innocent people do you know? Based on Psalms 14 and 53, there is no one who does good, not even one. If only the innocent get into God’s holy place, heaven must be pretty empty. Right?

Wrong. Heaven is filled with people who never could have made it based on their good works. They did the one and only thing that could purify their hands and hearts—they sought the face of God and found it in Jesus Christ (for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form). Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! And in that identification, they received righteousness and blessing . . . and a ticket to heaven!

SELAH

Look up: Psalm 14:3; 53:3; Colossians 2:9; John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24

A String of Selah Pearls (continued)

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 3:8 “From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Selah.”

Meditation:

Deliverance. Blessing. It’s all from you, Father God,

and yet . . . .

too many of your people don’t acknowledge your blessings.

We whine and tell you how to do your job.

Why is it so hard for us to honor you, God?

Apples must have fallen on Adam’s and Eve’s heads because,

ever since the Garden of Eden episode,

we humans have been confused, really out-to-lunch.

Like the serpent, we want control.

We want to determine the rules of engagement,

decide who gets blessed and who gets cursed

and what those blessings and cursings will be.

Yet, you know our frame. You remember that we are dust

and, mercifully, refrain from blowing us off the face of the earth.

Instead, you extend a simple invitation,

so simple that any dust bunny

should be able to understand . . .

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

SELAH

Look up: Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalm 103:14