Meditations from the Psalter

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.

Pause that refreshes.....

3/22/12 Loved those little 6oz. bottled cokes Mother kept in the back room refrigerator. Even after they were no longer “available”, Daddy was able to get them from an old grocery store down in Guthrie, KY. Not sure where the grocer acquired his stash. As Daddy said, “the pause that refreshes” was better ice cold and straight out of the bottle. Sitting with Daddy on our back porch step with those cold Cokes in hand were certainly refreshing times for me.

Note blank space under cross on left page & 3/8 date in bottom right corner.

These past weeks I have been given “spiritual pause"

Bonhoffer’s book*, 2012 has been my designated “Praying the Psalms” year. March 8, in Texas, using Day’s grandmother’s old Revised Standard Version Bible, I spent time meditating and journaling on Psalm 62. Notations included, “a song of trust” which had me questioning my life songs. My God songs? My trust? 

Sunday, (3/18) I read the Bible verse entry for the Upper Room (once again) Psalm 62:5, 8. “For God alone my soul waits in silence,….. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” (NRSV) More time needed to pour out my heart in song and prayer before Him.

 

Yesterday morning 3/21 Jesus Calling’s first line, “Trust Me and don’t be afraid for I am your Strength and Song,” and concluding with …join Me in singing My Song.” All of that meditation on Psalm 62, a psalm /song of trust, flooded my mind. What was God trying to tell me? I “paused” for more time with Him. A time of spiritual refreshment.

Last night at Heart to Heart Bible study, Crickett, our teaching leader, taught “5 Reasons to Cling to the Rock,” from Psalm 62: 5-8, a part of our Day 3 (3/17) lesson.

5 For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. [Selah]

Since my purple journal was in my book bag, I just opened to my notes and there on the left hand page was the perfect space** to incorporate her lecture notes summarizing David’s view of God as His ROCK. It was David’s song of trust. Once again God was helping me learn it.

All of this is probably only significant to me……but God…….continues to meet me at my point of need on trust issues. He’s putting a new song in my mouth and He’s doing it through Psalm 62. He’s doing it as I spend time with Him. He’s giving me a “refresher” course in trust.

“For God alone, My soul waits in silence”(RSV)…………the pause that truly refreshes.

*Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

**Grateful I had taken picture of journal before lecture---an affirmation of "but God"…..meeting my needs ahead of time.