Deep Calls Out to Deep

When I was a kid, my great grandmother had a Bavarian weather house on her wall. There was an old lady figure on one side that us kids called a witch and two kids on the other side that we called Hansel and Gretel. If the weather was going to be nice, Hansel and Gretel would come out. If it was going to be rainy, the witch would come out. It was high up and I was little. I guess for that reason, in my memory, it was huge. 

I decided, actually I became obsessed at some point with having one. I tracked that one down to my first cousin once removed. I asked if he could describe it in more detail to me and maybe even send a picture. Based on his description, I ordered one from Etsy. I was very unimpressed when it came. I told my husband, the one I was talking about was much bigger. Then a couple of weeks later, I received a package. My cousin had sent the original one to me. My husband burst out laughing because not only was it not bigger, it was actually smaller. Memory…maybe that’s how it works. 

Sometimes things aren’t quite the way we remember them. 

I had a very different experience with a particular memory, though. A road, a road that interestingly enough said dead end. That’s ironic because I went down that road years ago and it would lead me to the beginning of a terrible mistake. A mistake that would haunt me for years to come. And after a lot of healing I decided just to go down that road and see if the things I remembered looked the way they did in my memory. You know, they did. They actually looked exactly like I remembered them. The thing that had changed was me. I was different. 

You are probably wondering what mistake I made if you’re still reading. It almost seems wrong not to tell you. But I’m not going to tell you. Honestly I’m not withholding it because I’m still attached to the shame of that mistake but because the mistake is not the point of this post. 

Psalm 66

14 

Which my lips uttered
And my mouth spoke when I was in distress.

15 

I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat animals,
With the smoke of rams;
I shall make an offering of [e]bulls with male goats. Selah

16 

Come and hear, all who [f]fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

Selah has an interesting place in the Psalms. It is, from what we can tell a musical interlude. A pause, or for you musicians out there, a rest. A rest in music gives reverence to what just came and to take a moment before what is about to come. 

In this Psalm, the author, many think David is speaking to God about a time he was in distress and he made God a promise. Unlike some of our promises to God in distress, David intends to keep his and he is telling God how he will keep that promise. Then he takes a moment of reverence before he tells of the mighty things God has done for him. 

We are called to tell of the mighty things that God has done for us. However, sometimes we are called to reflect and engage in the thing God is doing for us and in us before we go on to the next part. Sometimes, it isn’t time yet to tell our story but to experience it in an intimate place with God. 

For physical reasons, God is about to slow me down, for a bit. But much like the things I remember that have changed and that have changed me, I’m sure this test will bring a testimony. For now though, I’m going to be content to lean on and rest in my Shepherd as the work is happening. I won’t run over the rest point in the music. After all that isn’t how the song is supposed to go. 

Selah