Selah

Our age is obsessed with speed. We want instant answers; we eat instant food, drink instant coffee and make instant decisions! “In vain… reflections we would make, when half our knowledge we must snatch, not take” wrote Alexander Pope. We are pressed for time, so we snatch at knowledge or information in school or when we attend seminars. We have no time to reflect – this is the symptom of our age. Hurry, quick or you get left behind! What a sorry state we are in today.

Let me draw your attention to a word that appears repeatedly in the psalms. The word ‘Selah’ appears 71 times in psalms and three times in Habakkuk. When we come to this word, we take note of it, but do not read it aloud. It is a pause or musical intermission, rest, a period of silence. It comes from the Hebrew word meaning ‘to suspend in a balance’ or ‘to weigh’. In other words we suspend all other thoughts and weigh or reflect on the words we have just read or heard.

Picture a basket or some container. When you come across this word; pause, put the thoughts or ideas into the basket of your mind before moving on. Reflect, meditate or ponder. Reflect on the testimony given by a comrade. Ponder over the sermon you have just heard. Listen to the child who has just spoken to you. The poet Edward Young in his ‘Night Thoughts’ wrote:
‘A soul without reflection, like a house
Without inhabitant, soon run to ruins.’

Psalm 1 counsels us to ‘meditate on His law, (meaning His word) day and night.’ Selah. The prophet Jeremiah speaking of long list of afflictions and sorrow said, ‘Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.’ Lamentations 3: 21 He knew how to reflect or ponder. Selah.

To my friends who stop to read this blog. It is Selah for you and for me. Think, ponder, and reflect on His word, His goodness, His love and mercy. It will do you good. It does to me always.