A Long Look Back

A Reflection on the Psalm for July 7th, 2019:
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalm 66

R. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!” 

R. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

“All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.” [Selah] Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among the children of Adam. 

R. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him, who rules by his might forever. 

R. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. 

R. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

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Selah is a word that is new to me. When I searched for this reading for my reflection, I found a new translation that has a word that some translations leave in the original Hebrew. The word itself could be a number of things — perhaps a cue for the cantor to take a pause — but when we see it in the written word, it stands out like a sore thumb. For a fuller explanation of Selah, the Wikipedia article is surprisingly helpful in that it gives lots of indications and not any decisive answer.

It reminds me of another phrase in the scriptures — Sh’ma Yisrael — Hear, O Israel! This phrase precedes the 10 Commandments. God is clueing us in that something important is happening. While Sh’ma means listen or hear, Selah cues us to do something different — to pause; to breathe; to reflect. The placement emphasizes what comes before it. It demands us to take a breathe, to allow the words to sink in, and to reflect on their meaning. God is powerful. God has done great deeds for us. Sing His praise. Selah — Breathe — Reflect. God saved us and I will give Him praise. Selah — Pause — Wonder.

"It’s not enough to let God’s work wash over us. God invites us to reflect on His power and His love for us."

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It’s not enough to let God’s work wash over us. God invites us to reflect on His power and His love for us. Sometimes I’m so busy dealing with the next crisis (and there’s always another crisis) that I don’t take the time to reflect on the wonderful works God has been working just behind me. When I don’t take time to really pause and see what GOD has done, I can forget it was Him that got me through. I can get puffed up and think about how resilient and strong I am. I can believe that what saved me was myself. But the reality is, when I really take time to look back, every time the world has been falling down around me, what helped me to get through wasn’t my own particular coping mechanism, but the grace of God that was pouring out over me. Paul reminds us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. I am equally convicted that without Christ, I would have fallen apart a long time ago. 

If each of us pause, I’m sure we’ll find times when God was working wonders all around us. ​

Stephanie Potter

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