Selah Brings Perspective
Perspective
Have you ever lost perspective?
There was a recent survey done in Britain that revealed that only 9% of the people there want life to return to normal after COVID-19.
One of the things the pandemic has done is that it has disrupted our lives in such a dramatic way that it’s given many of us a chance to ask the question…
When things are better, do we want things to return to normal? Do we want things to be the way they were before?
OR… Do we want things to change? When we come back from this, how do we want to come back?
It’s a chance to ask these kinds of questions. And we can do that because all of a sudden, because everything changed so dramatically and so quickly, we now have a NEW perspective.
Now people are thinking for the first time… Maybe I can work from home. Maybe I don’t have to travel, or travel as much. Maybe I need to keep spending more time with my family. Maybe I do need to keep spending more time outdoors. Maybe I do need to slow down and NOT get back into living a hurried life.
Disruption brings about an opportunity for a new perspective.
2 Ways We Gain Perspective
We typically gain perspective in two different ways.
1 // TIME
Sometimes, we gain perspective just from the passing of time. The further away we get from something, the more clearly we’re able to see things.
Maybe it’s because the emotion of that moment passed, maybe it’s because we learned new things over time that we didn’t know before in the moment, but you know what this is like. What once seemed huge, important, and even life changing in that moment… now, after some time has gone by, doesn’t seem as big as it once did.
2 // LOCATION
The other way we often gain perspective is just by changing our location. By moving.
If I’m looking out my window watching my kids play and then, all of a sudden, I can’t see them anymore… it doesn’t mean they’ve disappeared. I just need to go to another window, or set outside, so I can have a different perspective. By changing location I can see things differently!
This is another secret to the spiritual practice of Selah. And this is something that David learned over and over again by taking time to pause in the presence of God. Whenever he did, he always walked away with a new perspective.
David’s Prayer
Psalm 3, a psalm of David, begins with one perspective… maybe you’ve felt this way before. David prays…
O Lord, I have so many enemies;
so many are against me.
So many are saying,
“God will never rescue him!”
Can you hear the fear in David’s voice? Can you sense the anxiety he’s feeling?
He’s clearly worried about something. The anxiety is rising. All he can see from this perspective is his own personal demise and destruction.
And by the way, this is the same David who fought and defeated Goliath, an undefeated warrior who was a literal giant. No one thought David had a chance in that fight. He was only a shepherd boy.
And Goliath mocked David that day just like people are mocking David now when they say… “God will never rescue him!”
But even when you’ve experienced the victory of God in your life, even when you’ve seen God do mighty things before, it doesn’t make you immune from the worry, the fear, the loss of perspective that comes when new challenges and obstacles come your way.
Selah
David prays. He cries out to God. He writes this prayer. This song. And notice that after he writes the first verse he writes the word: Selah.
Selah.
Pause and calmly think about that
Pause in his presence.
It’s as if David is thinking… Let’s just say that everything I’m feeling and believing in this moment is absolutely true. It may or may not be. Sometimes our feelings betray us.
Sometimes what we feel and what is real, what is true, are two different things. But let’s just imagine that the world is actually against me and that those who oppose me are actually mocking my faith and my trust in God.
What happens in that moment when we take a moment to pause? To pause the worry. The fear. The “what if” questions. The anxiety. The overwhelming emotions. And not just pause, but pause with all of that in the presence of God.
We enter the presence of God with all of this in tow and we put these things at the feet of the Almighty God of the universe?
Now all those things, as big and heavy and important as they seem, all of a sudden they look really small in the presence of Almighty God.
This is what Selah does.
Selah brings perspective.
The Size of our Worries
Selah reminds us, our God is a God who defeats our giants.
The size of our worries begin to shrink when we Selah in his presence.
This is what happens for David.
After resting in God’s presence, after reflecting on God’s promises, after remembering what God had done in the past, he prays this…
But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried out to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy mountain.
Selah, pause in His presence
If you want to break free from the worry, if you want to quiet the internal fear, tell yourself the truth. And here’s the truth…
The LORD is your shield.
He is the Lifter of your head.
And when you cry out to God, He will answer you!
When I SELAH, when I pause and calmly think about all that is going on, when I pause in Your presence, even when it feels like everyone is against me I remember, YOU ARE MY SHIELD!
God is with me. God is my protector. Whatever may come against me, whoever may come against me, they have to go through HIM first!
When I pause to rest, reflect, and remember, I am reminded that you are my shield and then, there is this powerful image of God… David says, “You are the LIFTER of my head.”
A Good Father
Every good father knows the power of this statement.
Anytime one of your children falls down, anytime your son or daughter deals with discouragement, or disappointment, when things did not go their way something physical happens. Their face will literally fall.
And when you get to come along side them to encourage them, help them, build them back up… you see something physical happen, their face will rise.
David pictures God as a Father who comes alongside his son, his daughter, to encourage them in the most difficult of times and LIFT UP their HEAD. Restore their joy, their peace, their perspective.
After David remembers who God is, that in the presence of his enemies the LORD is his shield and the lifter of his head, David writes…
I lay down and slept,
yet I woke up in safety,
for the Lord was watching over me.
I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies
who surround me on every side.
This is what happens when you gain perspective through Selah… You can sleep in peace. And you can trust that while you sleep the Lord, your Father, is watching over you. You have nothing to fear.
Even when you feel like you’re surrounded by your enemies you can rest in the assurance that your Shield surrounds you and can protect you from anything that might come against you.
Greater Than >
David prays,
Arise, O Lord!
Rescue me, my God!
Slap all my enemies in the face!
Shatter the teeth of the wicked!
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people!
Selah, pause and calmly think about that
No matter how great the adversity or the number of the enemies against me, my God is greater than my enemies. He is GREATER THAN whatever may come against me.
And He will rescue me.
What I want to suggest today is that whether you’re dealing with external enemies or internal worries…
Selah may be the answer for how you fight your battles.
Selah may be the way you move forward when there are ten thousand enemies coming against you!
The Worry Cycle
Every morning during the school year I read to my kids at breakfast. It’s just one of the things I like to do. And we try to read different things.
One of the books we read this past school year that was really helpful, especially during a year that was filled with so much uncertainty, anxiety, and fear, was a book entitled, “The Worry Workbook.”
It’s all about helping kids put tools in their toolbox, so to speak, to help them deal with fear, worry, anxiety, and things like that. And, I may have learned a few things along the way as well.
One of the things we learned is that what happens for so many of us is that we get stuck in a Worry Cycle. It looks something like this…
A “what if” thought pops up.
Then… Your body’s alarm goes off.
Now… You avoid the thing you worried about.
And then… You feel better because you avoided it, but your brain learns it was dangerous!
And if you want to know how to break out of a worry cycle, it begins with telling yourself the TRUTH.
The Truth about God
Here’s the TRUTH, your Heavenly Father is stronger than any enemy that might come against you. Your Heavenly Father can protect you, defend you, fight for you, and rescue you from any adversary, adversity, or enemy that might come against you.
Whether those are internal worries, anxieties, and fears or external forces that are coming against you.
Your God is stronger, greater, more powerful, than anything that might come against you.
He is your defender, your protector, your shield, and he is the One when your soul is downcast within you that will LIFT UP your head and remind you that you are HIS and HE IS ON YOUR SIDE!
When we take time to Selah, to pause in His presence, we remember,
Our God is greater than anything that could come against us.
It’s in his presence that all our fear, worry, and anxiety begins to melt away.
There’s no river he can’t separate to deliver his people. No giant he can’t defeat. There’s no walls he can’t tear down. No tomb he can’t empty.
Whatever it is you’re up against, your God is GREATER.
So what are you up against that you need to bring into the presence of God today? What would happen if you brought that into His presence and left your burdens there?
As you spend time with God, may you rememeber that you don’t need to worry today.
“The LORD is your shield.
He is the Lifter of your head.
And when you cry out to God, He will answer you!”
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