Selah & Restoring Life’s Balance
When was the last time you intentionally slowed down long enough for your soul to catch up to your body?
In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer tells this story:
It’s the height of British colonialism. An English traveler lands in Africa, intent on a rapid journey into the jungle. He charters some local porters to carry his supplies. After an exhausting day of travel, all on foot, and a fitful night’s sleep, he gets up to continue the journey. But the porters refuse. Exasperated, he begins to cajole, bribe, plead, but nothing works. They will not move an inch. Naturally, he asks why. Answer? They are waiting “for their souls to catch up with their bodies.”
Lettie Cowman, in her telling of this story, wrote, This whirling rushing life which so many of us live does for us what that first march did for those poor jungle tribesmen. The difference: they knew what they needed to restore life’s balance; too often we do not.
Comer, John Mark. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (pp. 45-46). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The Epidemic of Hurry
It seems like more and more we are dealing not just with the recent pandemic, but with an ongoing epidemic that has been building for much longer and affects so many of us. The epidemic of hurry.
If you ask someone how they’re doing they’ll probably say something like, “I’m doing good I’m just busy!”
To be clear, the problem isn’t having or living a full life, it’s having so much to do that we’re always in a hurry.
And this is a problem for a thousand reasons, but perhaps the greatest problem that comes from a life of hurry is that we’re unable to find rest, much less rest in God. And when we’re too busy to rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God we can be overwhelmed by the world we live in.
You’ve probably heard the quote from Corrie ten Boom:
“If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”
― Corrie ten Boom
If that’s true, and I think it probably is!, then we have a real problem. So many of us are living lives where there is more to do than we have time to do, we’re overcommitted, we’re tired, worn out, stressed out, we don’t have time to take care of ourselves, we don’t have time for God, we don’t take time to rest.
AND…
We live in a world full of evil. A world so full of evil that our faith in God is often put to the test, or at least questioned. And lately, we’re not sure if we have answers for those questions and why would we when we haven’t had time to slow down and talk to God about them.
Pause
Have you ever heard the word SELAH?
You may or may not be familiar with this ancient word, and that’s ok.
Selah is an ancient Hebrew word and, to be honest, no one really knows what it means. It’s found 74 times in scripture. It’s only used in the book of psalms and then again in Habakkuk 3.
Different scholars have shared different theories but they are all unprovable. At some points, it appears to mean the same thing as “forever” or “always.” At other points it seems to mean nothing at all.
Because it’s a word that’s only found in the psalms many people think it’s a musical term. It could mean to sing higher or louder. It could be a musical cue for the symbols to crash or for the band to play louder.
But most scholars agree that it probably means to pause. To stop and listen. It may be a pause for an interlude. But even then, it’s a moment to pause and think deeply, to rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God.
The Amplified Bible often translates it this way… Selah (pause, and calmly think of that).
The Passion Translation reads, Selah, pause in his presence.
Pause. Rest. Reflect. Remember.
Selah, the Psalms, & Jesus
What’s interesting is that psalms were not just written to be prayed, recited, and sung… but they were also written to be done. To be lived. And Jesus taught us how to live the psalms. Maybe most importantly, he taught us how to Selah.
Over and over again throughout the gospels we find that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray.
Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. – Luke 5:15-16
Jesus left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. – Matthew 14:13
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. – Mark 1:35
Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. – Luke 6.12
Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. – Mark 6:31-32
After telling everyone good-bye, Jesus went up into the hills by himself to pray. – Mark 6:46
One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. – Luke 9.18
Here’s what I want you to see… Jesus took time in his incredibly busy life to pause, reflect, and rest in God.
The Invitation of Jesus
This is the invitation of Jesus. It’s an invitation to Selah.
Jesus once extended this invitation to those who were listening. He said,
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” – Matthew 11.28-30
Here’s the problem so many of us face, you can’t experience the goodness of God in the fast lane. If you’re living a hurried life, you’ll never know the peace of God. If you don’t take time to pause, rest, reflect, remember, you’ll never be filled with fruit of the Spirit of God.
From the beginning of time, God has not only invited us to rest but He has modeled a life of rest for us as well.
After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God rested on the 7th day. Then, when he gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, the Word of God for the people of God, the longest commandment in the list of the Ten Commandments is about remembering the Sabbath! (Exodus 20.8-11). In other words, remember to rest… to follow the example of God in creation on the seventh day of the week and rest from your work.
From the very beginning the invitation of God has remained the same! It might sound counter intuitive. It may seem strange. You may not think you have time. But what if you took time to Selah.
To Selah, to pause and calmly think about the goodness of God.
To Selah, to push pause on your life and simply rest in His presence.
In the middle of your hurry, in the middle of the crisis, when you’re overwhelmed with the problems of this life, even when you may have more questions than answers, this is the invitation of God. To pause and Selah.
An invitation to REST.
I don’t know what you think about when you think about rest. For some of you that means time to binge watch Netflix, but I would love for us to think about REST from a spiritual perspective.
This invitation from God to rest really is an invitation to STOP. To stop working, stop worrying, stop wanting, just STOP.
To step away from the constant dinging, ringing, and vibrating of your phone. To close the computer and walk away. To trust that whatever happens in the time you’re away from your email, God will take care of you. To demonstrate your trust, your faith, in God by accepting his invitation to SELAH. And then to practice spiritual REST.
For some of us that might mean turning off the alarm clock and sleeping in for a change and actually getting 8 hours of sleep. For others that might mean taking a walk down a nature trail and taking in the beauty of God’s creation. It might mean enjoying a cup of coffee outside as the sun comes up and a new day dawns. For some of us that might mean preparing a delicious meal with our kids and eating altogether around the same table at the same time with no screens where you can talk together, laugh together, and pray together.
This invitation to Selah is an invitation to STOP and to STEP INTO those things that are life giving! That are spirit renewing. That allow our souls to catch up to our bodies.
An Invitation to Reflect
It’s an invitation to take time to REFLECT on the goodness of God and the provision of God.
Instead of spending another day trying to figure out how to get more, buy more, make more, have more, it’s a day to reflect on what God has already given you.
Instead of spending another day reading negative headlines that were written for you to click, double click, and then leave you feeling down, drained, and depressed, it’s a time to reflect on the life giving, spirit filling, soul renewing Word of God.
Instead of having to constantly think ahead about what’s coming next, about how we’re going to get the kids to all the right places, about the deadlines we have to meet for work, and about all the things we have to do in the future, Selah is a chance to reflect on what God has already DONE!
And SELAH is an invitation to worship Him, praise Him, and thank Him for His love, grace, and provision.
An Invitation to Remember
So often we are so quick to forget the blessings of God. So our prayers, more often than not, are filled with new requests, new things for God to do, and we fail to remember what we prayed for before and what God has done.
But SELAH is a chance to pause in His Presence, to think about what God has done, to remember his goodness. When we’re always in a hurry we don’t have time to remember, in fact, if you’re like me, when you’re in a hurry you forget things! That’s just a side effect of hurry. But when you slow down, when you Selah, you have time to remember. To remember who God is and all that He has done.
Sabbath in Israel
What would happen if you accepted the invitation of God to Selah? To pause in His presence? To pause and calmly think about what God has done? To rest, reflect, and remember?
A few years ago when my wife, Alisha, and I were so blessed to be able to travel to Israel, to walk where Jesus walked, we were able to spend part of Sabbath with a local family. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat which literally means, “STOP.”
Every week everything in Israel comes to a stop. As soon as the sun sets on Friday evening, the Sabbath begins. And it begins with a large meal with the family. The food has already been prepared because no one is going to be working in the kitchen on Sabbath. The table has already been set. The candles have been lit.
For the next 24 hours, there is no work, no work email… actually, no email! No screens. Businesses shut down. Most of the city just stops.
It’s a time to rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God. I remember how Alisha and I were so in awe of how these people took the Sabbath so seriously. And how much we wanted that for our family.
This is the invitation of Jesus. It’s an invitation to Selah. To push pause on the business that is your life. To take time to…
Rest. Reflect. Remember the goodness of God.
Selah
What would happen if, for 24 hours, you didn’t check email? What would happen if, for 15 minutes a day you rested in the presence of God? How would your life change if you took time every week to Selah? To pause, rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God?
This is the invitation of Jesus. For all who are tired, weary, and worn to come to Jesus and find rest for your souls.
May we take time today and every day to pause, rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God.
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