An apparently angry and frustrated pedestrian has used AI to create a fantasy video of what should happen to cars that blow through stop signs as people are just about to cross the street. In one scene, the almost obliterated pedestrian hops back to the sidewalk and hits a button that causes a circular saw to come up from the road and cut the car in half. In another version, the button ignites a rocket that implodes on the car. A third scenario involves large panels that pop up in front of crosswalk, causing the car to glide up and over the pedestrian like a kid’s car ramp toy. The lesson for drivers? STOP. LOOK. LISTEN.

Today’s psalm has three places where we are invited to stop, look, and listen. The Hebrew word for this instruction is Selah. Found 71 times in the psalms, Selah is a musical notation similar to a “rest,” where the musician is given a pause in the performance. The resting function in the psalms allows the reader to take a moment to pause their study and actually mediate on the passage before going on.

Life would be better if we all paused, rested, and meditated. How often do we hustle and bustle through our day without once stopping to experience God, look for the divine activity in our situation, and listen to holy words of instruction? Did you pause today?

David wrote this beautiful maskil as a song of penitence. We can hear his ransomed soul rejoicing as he experienced the blessings of forgiveness. Happiness is a result of true confession, deep repentance, and God’s covering over of our exposed sins. Psalm 32 was St. Augustine’s favorite psalm, and he had it inscribed on the wall by his bed so that he could meditate on it as he was dying. How much better would life be if we had a copy of this inscribed on our hearts so that we could meditate on it as we are living?

Psalm 32:1-11

32 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
² The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—
    in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—
    that one is truly happy!

³ When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
    I was groaning all day long—
    every day, every night!—
⁴ because your hand was heavy upon me.
    My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

⁵ So I admitted my sin to you;
    I didn’t conceal my guilt.
    “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
    Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

We are invited to Selah twice here and consider the heaviness of God’s convicting hand on our sinful hearts. Have you felt this heaviness in your own soul? David said that his “bones wore out” with his unconfessed sin. Does your soul remember a time when it felt dry and oppressed? The removal of guilt through admitting our sins through honest confession is the only way out.

⁶ That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,
    so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
⁷ You are my secret hideout!
    You protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah

This Selah allows us moment to meditate on the secret refuge that is offered to all who come in honesty and hope. God is our refuge and strength! What does that mean to you?

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you
    about the direction you should go.
    I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
⁹ Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
    whose movement must be controlled
    with a bit and a bridle.
        Don’t be anything like that!
¹⁰ The pain of the wicked is severe,
    but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
¹¹ You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
    All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!

God invites us to stop, look, and listen to the instructions, teachings, and the direction that we are shown every day under God’s watchful eye. Faithful love surrounds us, if we just take a beat and pause long enough to perceive it. Do you see it?

Selah!

Stop, Look, and Listen by Kathy Schumacher