Selah~ pause and think about it!
The Book of Psalms … spirit filled songs of praise laden with Words of Joy.
I have been journeying through the book of Psalms this month, stopping quietly to ponder the depth of emotion hidden within the poetry of the Bible. There is a word repeated through the volume of rhyme which beats a sound upon my heart and causes me to stop.
Selah~ It is a command to the reader to pause and think.
This word appears throughout the Book of Psalms 71 times, and jumps off the page as a glaring blinking yellow light directing me to do one thing … PAUSE.
This action of pausing is not as automatic to me as is the conept of moving. It actually assumes we are in a state of motion. Like Newton’s Laws it explains how force is required to stop, or cause to pause, an object which is already full of intertia.
Great force, large enough to overcome the force of motion, is applied to the moving object and only then does it stop. This stopping force has to be much greater than the inertia. It takes energy to change direction, and to think, but it is a good thing to expend that energy for the purpose of the pause.
The word Selah comes from the Hebrew root word, salah which means to hang or to weigh out for measurement. In the Book of Psalms it is suggested to have been used to accentuate the importance of what was being said to the reader. It is a break meant to tell the reader to stop and consider. A flashing yellow light beckoning us to yield our journey long enough to rest and think.
It is good to stop and think about the righteousness of God.
It is necessary to pause and think upon his goodness.
The friction of daily living can weigh us down, speeding our descent from mountain-top living and slowing our reaction time to the bumps and boulders we must navigate on our journey in order to stay upbeat, joy-filled, and purposed in our wanderings.
The action of pressing PAUSE in our schedule requires a conscious thought to precede the action. The more we activate the response to stop and meditate on Him and His goodness, the more clearly we see just how necessary it isto develop a habit of pausing as we propel our daily journey up the moutnain of life.
Pausing is unnatural, but it is far too necessary.
Hitting the play button is our normal reaction, going 100 mph, FULL SPEED AHEAD, barely looking enough along the way. Life is zooming by at the speed of light, and we are missing the beauty of the journey when we forget to yield to the yellow light and pause to look around us.
However, that is simply not what we are instructed to do. We are told to Pause and Think. In my Bible, the Amplified translation adds an adverb which describes exactly HOW we are to pause and think… calmly.
I am learning that the state of calm which my soul requires to be full involves a cessation of action, a stillness that does not occur in our every day busy-ness of life.
This action of stopping is a purposeful active decision to stop and consider versus reacting and responding. An action that usually brings the concept of contemplative prayer with it. This contemplative prayer brings us to the place of seeking wisdom and asking those thought provoking questions of ourselves and God. This always leads me to a place where I can choose to just stop and pause.
Selah ~ a definitive purpose-filled leaning upon the pause button…. yielding to the One whose Purpose meets my every need.
The goal is to Stop, Think, and Lean upon His Righteousness.
Once you are in the place of pause, actively rest in His Goodness.
As I shared last week, I will be taking each Tuesday this month to share some of my journey through the book of Psalms and encouraging you to join along. Let me challenge you to pause and think today:
How often do you stop and hit the pause button?
- Take a few moments with me and read a Psalm, or more.
- Find the Selah Moment in your day and reflect on the beauty hidden in His Word.
- Journal your journey and write your own Psalm.
- Don’t forget to accentuate your masterpiece with the ever appropriate, Selah!
Enjoy this Selah:Journal Page I created for you.
Praying for you to pause and reflect on the goodness of God in your life.
I’d love to pray for you personally.
Feel free to leave a comment or email me at dawnboyer@journeysingrace.com
Linking up with the Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood at Finding Heaven Today.
Please visit Jen and all the wonderful women of faith.
“Pausing is unnatural, but it is far too necessary.” This is SO true! I remember reading the Psalms and seeing the word (Selah) often, but never read what it really meant before! Thanks for such an enlightening post! I am striving to learn to take more time to pause and think about what the psalmist wrote.(As well as all Scripture verses)