Today's Meditation

Read Psalm 66

¹Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;

²sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.

³Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

⁴All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.” Selah

⁵Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him,

⁷who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah

⁸Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,

⁹who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

¹⁰For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

¹¹You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs;

¹²you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

¹³I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows,

¹⁴those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

¹⁵I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

¹⁶Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.

¹⁷I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.

¹⁸If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

¹⁹But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

²⁰Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

     Returning to the Psalms today we have one of the songs written after the exile.  You'll notice that there is a recurring word in this psalm: selah.  The full definition of this word has been lost to history, but most scholars believe that it was a musical notation of some sort.  Perhaps a pause or a stop.  We might interpret it as a moment to stop and listen to a musical interlude in the reading or singing of this psalm.

     The people of Israel rejoice because God has finally brought them through their time of slavery and has taken them out of bondage, into a journey towards the future.  They are rejoicing and glad that their time of trial and difficulty is over.  Regardless of the historical discrepancies regarding how long they were slaves to the Egyptian Pharoah building their cities brick by brick, it was long enough for them to be bitter and want their freedom.  

     This psalm is a rejoicing about their possible future, where they will go, where they will find a new home.  A rejoicing over all the bitterness and sorrow they have left behind.  And a psalm written with stops to appreciate the music, the quiet, the blessings.

We are in Selah times.  A stop, a listening, a moment to count our blessings and even in the midst of bitterness or frustration, to appreciate our blessings.

     What are your blessings?  Count them and rejoice.  Stop and listen for God's sweet word of encouragement.

Simple Gifts by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir