Selah – Pause and Reflect
So Yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything to the blog. I know I haven’t been very consistent with the blog, but for those that have checked it out please give me your comments. My goal from here on out is to try to post at least one blog each week. I would like to give a Sunday Setlist and talk about how the worship service on Sunday morning go. So please check it out each week when you can. And please comment. I want to hear from you!!
The following is an article I wrote for our newsletter last week. It’s about just taking the time to think on what God is doing in our lives. I’ve been trying to do that more lately, in light of all the changes at FBC over the past few months. Two things that continue to be evident every time I think about every thing that is going on is 1. God is good, and 2. He is ALWAYS in control. We just have to pause and reflect on what He is doing around us, and to meet Him where He is.
If you are musician, you know the importance of taking notes on your music during rehearsal – get louder on this measure, don’t play at this spot, remember the key change, etc. As a worship pastor and choir director, I like it when you do that because it means that you’re paying attention.
The writer of the Psalms, put the same kind of “reminder” notes in to a few of the chapters.These notes are in the form of a word “selah”. You have probably seen this word in the middle or at the end of a psalm and wondered what does that word mean?
Here is an example taken from Psalm 62 7-8:
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
Well, I am so glad that I have this opportunity to tell you. It’s such a great word! The word selah was an instruction to the music leader to have the song (remember, psalms are songs not poems) stop for a moment to let the people think about what they just sung or heard. The musicians would sing a couple of lines and then selah – pause and reflect!
I wrote a song in college that I titled Selah after studying about this often overlooked word in the psalms. The first verse goes: “Start of my day, always the same, everything seems to be rushed. Where is my time? It’s so hard to find a simple hush.” Sometimes it is so hard to find the time in our busy days to just to be still, be quiet, and reflect on what God is doing. It seems that life never slows down either. We are always going to be busy with something. Don’t get me wrong, being busy isn’t necessarily wrong either. Let’s just make sure that we take the time today to Selah every once in a while. To pause and reflect on what God is doing in our lives and around us.
Let me know your thoughts! Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!
In Christ,
Michael
BTW: GO RANGERS! BEAT ST. LOUIS!!
