Pleasure (Psalm 67)

Vs. 1 - "May God be gracious to us and bless us, Selah" (ESV)

This seems like a pretty self-centered prayer at first blush. Lord, bless me! Then it's followed by Selah. Selah is when the Psalm (which is a song, remember) says something that you just have to stop and revel in. It's that moment in a worship service when a congregation settles into a holy hush that lingers, or spontaneous applause that brings extended celebration, or a little ad lib musical section where spontaneous songs of worship, praise, and thanksgiving come from individuals all at the same time and create a multi layered, beautiful moment of corporate worship. So this seems like, "bless me real good!" But check out the punctuation. It is a comma, not a period. The Selah comes in mid thought. Keep reading...

Vs. 2 - "that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all the nations." (ESV)

"That" is the word that brings this alive. Lord, bless me so people will know how You act. Bless me so Your power will be seen all over the world. But wait, this is about to get even better...

Vs.3-4 - "Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah" (ESV)

I can't help but think that this Selah is more intense than the first. Look at the progression again. Lord, show us Your grace and bless us so we can really know how You interact with people. Then people will take pleasure in Your ways. How do we take pleasure in His ways? Well, when we see that He is just and guides His people, we will praise Him. Why? Because we love Him! We enjoy Him! I think this phrase is not understood much in a lot of churches. We have forgotten how to love God. Here's why I say this. I think it was C.S. Lewis who said that when we love something, the automatic result is praise. Think about it. When you go to a great restaurant, what do you do the next day? You praise it to anyone who will listen because you want them to enjoy it, too. The same goes for anything you enjoy...a movie, a vacation, play, concert, song, etc. When we really enjoy something, we praise it! Then just in case you missed it, the Psalmist picks up the same thought after the Selah.

Vs. 5 - "Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!" (ESV)

Vs. 6-7 - "The earth has yielded it's increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!" (ESV)

God is faithful. He is dependable. He will always be this. He will keep His promise to provide for His people. He is a trustworthy king. We love Him. We fear Him. Not as cowering subjects afraid for their lives, but kneeling before Him in loyalty and reverence and submission and awe. Awe of an Overwhelming, Mighty, Awesome, Completely Sovereign, Strong, Just, Avenging, and Powerful King who is Good and Loving and Untamable! Again, C.S. Lewis gives us a great picture of this. In The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, the great lion king is this type of ruler. When the question is asked, "Is he a tame lion?" The answer comes back, "Tame, no...but He is good." So this fear is enjoyable, because it is how we respond to the most enjoyable reality in the universe, God.

Oh Great and Awesome King! Forgive us for not loving You. We say we do, but our true feelings are shown in what we enjoy most. Lord, open our eyes to see you as You really are and to experience that reality as pleasure! Oh God, let no other thing charm us as You do. May we see you in every legitimate pleasure and not look for other pleasures to take the place of You. Thank You for allowing us to feel pleasure in You. You could have created us as a cold race with no passion. It would have made things a lot less messy. But You didn't. You gave us a desire to enjoy You, even though we have many times not truly done so. Oh Lord, be gracious to us and bless us and teach us to enjoy fearing You! In Jesus Name, Amen.