The First Time I Have Noticed a Middle-of-the-Sentence "Selah."

"O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah" (Psalm 68:7a)

So, after my little revelation yesterday about verses, I come across this one, where the "Selah" is in the middle of a sentence, so I had to stop and think about what was so important in the first part of the sentence that it deserved a "repeat sign" (for all you musicians out there!).

This made me think of the verses I had just read in Numbers about how the pillar of cloud by day or pillar of fire would lift from the tabernacle and move to let the children of Israel know it was time to tear down the tabernacle and their tents and go to another location, with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night moving before them to show them the way.  Numbers 9:23 sums it up; it says, "At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed:  they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses."  When the cloud moved, it was time to move.  They obeyed, but they could always see the will of the Lord visually. 

We, too, are marching through a wilderness.  We should always be on the look-out to see if our cloud is moving, praying and fasting to seek God's will for us, to see if it is time to step out into the unknown to follow the will of the Lord, or if it is time for resting in our tents, either marching forward or resting, never moving backwards!!  As long as we are following the Lord in obedience, we have comfort knowing we are in His will. 

That is a place I want to be!!

P.S.  The rest of that sentence tell us in verse 8, "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God:  even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel."  God blessed them with His very presence!  (The rest of the psalm is FULL of wonderful promises!!!)

"Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:  Sing forth the honour of his name:  make his praise glorious.  Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.  All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.  Selah" (Psalm 66:1-4). 

It hit me!  Sometimes I am a little slow to realize, but I finally did.  I was reading Psalm 66 and saw the word, "Selah," and stopped to consider what in that verse caused God to have the psalmist to tell us to stop and think.  That is when it hit me:  the Bible didn't originally have verse divisions, so it could have been anything previously written in this psalm.  Now, I have known for a long time that the Bible didn't have verses originally, but I had never thought about it for this blog, so today I am writing from that "new" perspective.

In the first part of this psalm, we find several options for praise:  making a joyful noise; singing about the honor of His name; gloriously praising; and telling God how amazing and awe-inspiring His works are, that the greatness of His power will cause His enemies to submit, and that ALL the earth will worship Him and sing to Him and His name.  I want to focus today on the second option:  singing about the honor of His name. 

I have found it helpful to choose a name of God for praising when starting my prayer time.  You can choose one, read what the Bible says about that Name, and praise God for that name, perhaps even using God's own words to praise Him!  It causes Him to inhabit that praise (Psalm 22:3), and to be very close to you in a tactile way:  you can actually feel His presence!!  It also helps you to know God better, which increases your faith in Him, as you know more about Who He is and What He can and cannot or will and will not do!!  That helps you pray more succinctly, thoroughly and boldly!!  There is no downside to this!!! 

For example, if I am praising God for His name, Jehovah Jireh, The Lord Will Provide, or according to www.bible.org, "The Lord Who Sees, or The Lord Who Will See To It,"my faith is increased simply by knowing what this name means!!!  Then I find verses like Romans 8:32, which says, "He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" and Philippians 4:19, which says, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus"; and stories like the one about God's providing a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of his son Isaac in Genesis 22.  There is also Ephesians 3:20, which says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us".  I might praise saying, "Jehovah Jireh, I praise You because of Who You are!!  I worship You as Jehovah Jireh, The Lord Who Will See To It!!  You are able to do exceeding abundantly above all I ask or even think, and you will withhold no good thing from me!  (Psalm 84:11)   You have all power and are not only able to see all things but can work out all things, and I am so thankful You can see my life, my needs, my hearts desires and can even answer before I ask (Matthew 6:8).              
I could go on and on!!  There are so many verses that pertain to our Jehovah Jireh!  I am thankful for this "Selah," which caused me to stop and think about praising God for His Name.  Now, go find a song that celebrates a name of God, and sing!!  LOUD!!!