Church Life,  Family

Selah

October 30, 2012 /

Over 70 times we read the word “Selah” in our Old Testament, the vast majority of those times being in the book of Psalms. Admittedly, it is a difficult word to translate, but most scholars suggest that it had to do with the cadence of reading through the particular psalm. The leading idea is that the word meant for the reader (or the listener) to pause and reflect on what had just been written or said aloud.

Here is my question for us all to consider today: Do you have any Selah in your life?

In other words, is there any time to pause and reflect, or have we so filled our day and our life with busy-ness that we just run and run with no time to reflect? I think, if we are honest, we could all say that we lack Selah in our lives.

But, in our modern world, how do we get it back? The answer is actually quite simple to say, but for most of us, feels impossible to do.

Say “no.”

That’s it. Learn to say “no” to some things in our lives.

  • Limit your children to only a couple of extracurricular activities. They won’t die from lack of football or drama.
  • Say no when the gals call and ask to meet for coffee….again.
  • Skip that weekly night out with the guys.
  • How amazing would it be if a congregation just took a quarter (or even a year) off of “extra” stuff. Worship, Bible classes, and only absolutely necessary activities were done, and families were encouraged to spend that extra time together.

Sound drastic? Maybe that’s because we are so caught up in the rush, rush, rush of society that the idea of saying “no” and slowing down seems totally strange.

But then, ask yourself this question: how much better would my relationship with God and with my family be if there were Selah in my life? If I had time to pause and reflect. If I had time to invest deeply into the lives of my children, instead of just running them through Burger King on the way to the next swim meet. If I had time to drink deeply from the pages of God’s Word.

Maybe we all need some Selah.

QUESTION: What tips can you give to learn to say “no” and have some Selah in our lives?

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Photo credit: Oliver Kindal on creative commons

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2 Comments

  • Josh Ketchum

    October 31, 2012 at 8:54 AM

    Adam, I like the lesson from Selah. I have thought of the idea too of just stopping all the extra church stuff for a short time. And then starting back up new ideas or old ones if they are missed and still serve a purpose. Plus it would give some time for rest. Our churches today have so much more going on than churches of the past, but not sure it is always productive activity (at least as good as could be).

  • Leah

    October 31, 2012 at 12:48 PM

    Sometimes as parents, we are as guilty of “peer pressure” as anyone. We feel like our children need to participate in many activities, just because everyone else’s kids are. Maybe we should be be more of an example of a structured and peaceful life with plenty of “Selah.”