The word 'Selah' is derived from a primitive Hebrew root word meaning "to hang" in the aspect of weighing or measuring something. It is most often seen in the Psalms (although not in Psalm 139) and is thought to be an encouragement to stop or pause, to reflect (weigh) what has been said/sung, to meditate on something and make it personal... I couldn't help thinking of the word 'selah' tonight while reading Psalm 139... so much to digest, so much to understand in these 24 verses... so many things that struck me as important to know and remember...
After feeling a bit down in the dumps about my mistake yesterday (which has been forgiven by God) and knowing that this Psalm has enough of a punch to it to make sure I know how important I am to God in it, I thought I'd boost my spirits by reading it. I'm so glad I did. I've found myself searching for every possible translation, hungry to find any commentary on it, wanting to see which translation uses words that impact me and "wow" me the most. My Bible study group (which we have named Selah because we want to take our time and digest God's word and apply it to our lives) is doing a study by Beth Moore right now, from time to time, she has us do an exercise where you take a verse or passage and re-write it to make it personal... here's my version of Psalm 139... I'll make it a different color so if you want to skip it and go on to my comments after it you can do that (although they make more sense after reading my version of this passage):
Verses 1-5: Oh LORD! How do you know so much about me? You know when I shower, when I sing, when I cry, when I hug a friend, when I curse, when I lose my temper... You know when I show your love to others, when I'm selfish with Your love, when I am greedy, when I am weak, when I am living in Your strength... You know my thoughts, good or bad, You know my gut reactions to situations, You know the anger that boils up inside of me and threatens to burst out of me when faced with injustice... You know that I want to serve You, worship You, praise You in all things and how miserably I fail at giving You want I know You deserve... You know when I do things for others with a pure heart, and You know when I do those same types of things out of obligation or to gain a sense of self-satisfaction... You know when my heart is being honest and when I am being cold and lying to myself and lying to You.
Verse 6: You know me better than I know myself! I don't know how to understand this, yet I know it's true or I would never be convicted of things that I do wrong...
Verses 7-10: I can't go anywhere without you being there. When I surround myself with things that are good, clean, wholesome You are there... When I make mistakes and return to my former way of life, no matter how briefly, You go with me and stay with me. Even if I try to run away from You, You follow me and stay with me!
Verses 11-12: No matter what I do or think might hide my actions from You, You can see it, You know my every move, my every breath, my every thought.
Verses 13-16: You know better than I do the aches and pains I have... You put me together so that I could have those pains, even though I don't know the purpose for them. You know I'm tall, have an odd hair color, a large bone structure, but because You made me, I'm a wonderful creature. You made me... not my mom, not my dad, but YOU! You know everything I am, everything I have done, everything I will do, and no matter what lies before me You will be there with me. Even before You put me together You knew what my life would be and how You would use me for Your purposes!
Verses 17-18: There is so much to learn about You Lord! How can I ever hope to learn everything? Every day I want to learn more, I want to walk with You, be with You, know You are with me and learn more about You.
Verses 19-22: I don't like when people speak badly about You, I want to defend You! I want to make known my love for You to anyone who will listen. I don't want to hate people Lord, but when they hurt You, deny You, and turn from You I want to hate them for how they treat You. I want everyone around me to know You and love You!
Verses 23-24: As scary as this is Lord, I want You to keep track of my thoughts, my heart, my mind. I want You to let me know when I think, feel, or do something wrong. If there is something wrong I want You to convict me of it and help me overcome my wrongdoing so I can follow the path that leads to You. I want You to let me know if I am not being fair to someone who thinks differently than I do, I want You to show me my areas of weakness.
Wow... God knows me better than I know myself! What an odd concept! We usually believe that we are the best person to understand our own hearts, thoughts, minds, feelings... yet often we do need an outsider to point out our flaws to us (in love of course) before we can take them to God for help with whatever that flaw might be. Who better to really know us, our desires and longings, our hopes and dreams, our sins and failures than the One who made us? Verses 23-24 are hard to say, especially when you put your own personal weaknesses into it, but if you really mean it and make it a prayer, you will have the One who knows you better than anyone else to ever live or breathe examining you and pointing out to you your areas of weakness and where you need improvement.
What's the point of all this? It's easy to tell if you have a problem with a bad temper, if you tend to be judgemental, a gossip, etc... but often it's not so easy to identify the more subtle things in your own life, things that are the reasons "why" you behave a certain way, what causes your insecurities, what makes you afraid of commitment, why you crave something and push it away all at the same time... yet these underlying subtleties are known by God, even when you don't know about it yourself... do you realize what it means that the Creator of everything knows us that well? It means He loves us, inside, outside, warts and all. He loves us and wants to hold us in His arms. He considers us heirs and heiresses to the throne, His family, His bride, spotless, blameless, perfect in His sight. It is both awesome and humbling to know that the most powerful being to ever exist loves me that much... hope you feel the same way!
Hugs & Love
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3 comments:
Looks like somebody posted something you didn't like, snoyarc...
Yeah, it was an advertisement and I didn't want to have it posted here, especially since it was in spanish... even my blog gets spammed!
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