5/21/12 Bonhoeffer calls Psalms, the prayer book of the Bible but the Hebrew title also means hymns. Either term, prayer or hymn, has a purpose in worship. Embedded within some of the psalms is another word which can aid one in meditation. Selah.
“Selah” [celah], when used in a psalm invites the reader to pause and to reflect. A synonym for meditation."Selah Psalms" teaches that “Selah” means we should pause to carefully examine, measure, and value what has been said. (http://www.harvestime.org/Psalms/Selah.pdf) Sounds like our “Meditation Monday” practice to me.
Whether it’s a passage from the Psalms or another book in the Bible, it is good practice to measure the truth encountered. Read. Pause. Measure your thoughts with the whole truth of Scripture---for all truth from God has been given for our meditation, our reflection, and our application. So….one wants to get it right.
Bonhoeffer quotes Luther on the advantage of a “Selah” interlude in the psalms, “…for they demand a quiet and restful soul, which can grasp and hold to that which the Holy Spirit there presents and offers” (Psalms the Prayer book of the Bible, p. 23) Practice meditating today under that guidance.
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by.I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.He shall send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah
God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. (Psalm 57:1-3)
Today my meditation, from the psalter, turned to prayers for many on my "list" who are suffering from the calamaties caused by cancer---young and old alike.
