Bread – Selah

Readings for Monday, July 5th
    designated by the Book of Common Prayer:
    Num. 32:1-27; Rom. 8:26-30; Matt. 23:1-12
    Psalms 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
———————————————————————————-

Today’s Bread is a little different.  "Selah" is a word which appears in some of the Psalms.  We do not know what it means.  Some people think that it is a word of praise.  Some think its nothing but a musical term.  Others think that it is a word of "wait," of "pause," of "think about what you just read or said," "of meditate upon the Lord."  I prefer this last interpretation.

So I invite you into my "Selah" at the six places in the Psalms today where the word "Selah" appears.  I also invite you into your own Selah (pause for thought) as you reflect on the words of God:

"O Lord, how many are my foes!  How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me ‘God will not deliver him.’  Selah"  Ps. 3:1-2

Who cannot identify with this lament?  Who has not been in that place where many of our friends would have said (and we ourselves would have said to ourselves and to others) that we were in such a low place that ‘God will not deliver [us]’?  Perhaps we are there today, right now.  Perhaps we are ill or heartbroken over a destroyed relationship with a friend, spouse, child, or parent.  Perhaps we are broken economically.  Perhaps we are worried, perhaps we are afraid, perhaps we are lonely, perhaps we are in a dark place with no obvious exit.  How many times have I said "the world is out to get me."  How many times have other people been out to get you?

And yet we have a saying that "it is always darkest before the dawn."  What reality does that represent?  What truth does it hold?

In our reading from Romans today, Paul says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes."  Rom. 8:28  Is this another way of saying that "it is always darkest before the dawn?"

Atheists would say that God will not deliver us from death, that death is permanent and this life is all there is.  Their world is a dark world forever.  What of mine?  What of ours?  Is it a world where darkness reigns supreme, or a world where darkness is but a temporary waystation on the trip of a lifetime, not only in the present age but for all eternity?  Do I agree that "God will not deliver [me]?"  No, for I know that God sent His Son to earth to die as me and to be resurrected to life so that all, including me, who believe in Him shall have eternal life.  I know that God not only will deliver me, He has.

"But You are a shield around me, O Lord; You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.  To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill.  Selah"  Ps. 3:3-4

This is the answer to the first two verses.  But it also contains a "Selah."  For what purpose?  The first two verses deal with questions, the second two with answers.  Perhaps it is all right to ask the questions, when the questions are followed by the answers.  Perhaps it is all right to address these questions to God.

A shield I understand – that You protect me from the worst of the storm.  But what about glory?  Is not glory reserved for You, the only holy one?  And yet God thinks enough of me to "bestow me with glory."  He honors me in my sinful state, when I have no honor.  He gives me a piece of Himself, when I have nothing to give Him.

And, indeed, the richness of this gift is demonstrated in their fullness in Paul’s letter today to the Romans, saying that "And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified."  Rom. 8:30  He "bestows me with glory" only after He determines, calls, justifies through a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, and then He "bestows glory."  To those who question whether God is there but who believe in Jesus Christ, He bestows glory.  To those who have assurance of the fact that God will deliver him or her, He bestows glory.  We do not call upon Him, He calls upon us and, because He first called us, we are able to recall Him in time of trial.

"From the Lord comes deliverance. May Your blessing be on Your people. Selah"  Ps. 3:8

Blessing is not only on me, but on His people.  I so often forget that I am not an island, that I exist in community, in the community of believers and non-believers alike.  My blessing is their blessing; their blessing is my blessing.  My fear of abandonment by God is their fear; my confidence in salvation is theirs.  Lord, give me a heart to share Your blessings with Your people.  Lord, give me humility so that I might share fully in Your blessings offered to me by and through Your people.  Lord, help me to preach Your gospel clearly, so that all who hear may know that from Jesus Christ comes deliverance for all of His people.

"How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?  How long will you love delusions and seek false Gods? Selah"  Ps. 4:2

God has given me glory and understanding, but people call me foolish and challenge my intellect and ability to reason.  "How can a smart person believe in this nonsense?" they ask.  "How can one look at all the evil in the world and say that there is a loving God?" they inquire in their man-idol self-righteousness.  "God is nothing but a psychological trick to help us deal with the unknown" they say in their scholastic smartness.  These people try to take my glory, the holiness which God has placed into me, and turn it into something ugly, something shameful.

Well I have an answer for them – "How long will you love delusions and seek false Gods?"  Do you really believe that man is the pinnacle of ethics, of truth, of hope, of knowledge?  Do you really believe that man’s idols, beginning with himself, are anything but that?  What fruit do your idols bring forth?  What solution for sin do you have?

How long will they seek after false Gods and try to embarrass the children of God?  Until their death and destruction, because that is their end.

"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.  Selah"  Ps. 4:4

Good advice, Lord, and hard to do.  How can I do this when my anger burns hot against those who have slandered me, who have used my valuable time foolishly, who have done their best to interfere with my plans, who have interrupted me, and who have forced me to stop doing what I want to do and instead do something they want done?

Again, in today’s readings, Paul comes to the rescue by describing one of the works of the Holy Spirit — "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."  Rom. 8:26  When will this happen, when we quiet our hearts and are silent before the Lord.  The Lord will deal with our anger, our self-righteousness, our hypocrisy, our idol-worship, our sense of loss, our worry, our needs.  All we have to do is (a) search our own hearts so that our confession before God may be thorough and so that we might understand the real motive and underlying causes of our actions, (b) be silent, and (c) let the Holy Spirit intercede on our behalf.

"O Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands — If I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe — then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.  Selah"  Ps. 7:1-5

This last "Selah" in today’s readings from the Psalms reminds me that there are consequences to my actions, that even though I am unable to keep from sinning I am in fact responsible for what I do.  So, Lord, when bad things happen to me which are caused by my bad doing, keep me from blaming others for my calamity and keep me from blaming You.  Bring to my mind those wrongs and encourage and strengthen me through Your Spirit so that I am empowered and willing to correct the harm I have caused.

And, Lord, when the number of my foes appear to overwhelm me, whether those foes come from hostility to You or arise from wrongs I have done to them, remind me of the other meditations in today’s Bread, that I should know that You have delivered me for all eternity, that You have bestowed me with glory which is rightfully Yours and not mine, and that You have given me the Holy Spirit to quiet my anger, search my heart, and be silent before You as I live my life in the present.

Thank you Lord for all Your mercies.  Amen.

———————————————————————————-