Selah

Psalm 67

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

 ¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
       and make his face shine upon us,
       Selah  ² that your ways may be known on earth,
       your salvation among all nations.
 ³ May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
       for you rule the peoples justly
       and guide the nations of the earth.
       Selah
 ⁵ May the peoples praise you, O God;
       may all the peoples praise you.
 ⁶ Then the land will yield its harvest,
       and God, our God, will bless us.
 ⁷ God will bless us,
       and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

 When I read this verse today I became curious about what the word Selah was doing there.  A little googling told me that no one really knows, but many people think it has something to do with a musical pause.  I particularly enjoyed reading this explanation: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/selah.html  Ultimately, I liked the definition of  a pause for thoughtful reflection.  Since we're not singing this, the definition works for this discussion.

After having a definition, I re-read the psalm and it was very mellow.    You read a line or three and then pause to reflect.  This is song about how Awesome God is and how we should praise him.  The devotional I am reading brought up the thought that it's easy to praise God when things are going our way.  It's not so easy when things are going wrong.

It seems like this is just the kind of psalm to read when things are falling apart around us.  Sometimes when we're upset we don't need commiseration, but something to lift us out of the muck.  Even in the dark of night, God, our God, will bless us.