Selah

Selah is an Old Covenant word used by the psalmists like King David of Israel. Many of us in reading the scriptures see this word, but ignore its significance and continue with our reading as though this word has no meaning. I wonder why? Why is this very important part of the word receive such a little attention?

In the meaning of the word Selah I now see a great importance, which Satan and all his hosts have no pleasure in its revelation to us. I trust it is a very threatening weapon in the hand of the believers if they truly knew its power.

Today by God’s grace given to me in Christ Jesus I would like to expand on this frequently forgotten and misunderstood or better to say ignored principal in the scriptures.  This Hebrew word used in the Hebrew scripture especially in the book of psalms has few unique interpretations, but the most popular one is “To stop or to hang on or to be still or to pause and think “.

To pause and think or meditate is the greatest meaning of this often forgotten word in the Bible. The Hebraic culture called for periods of waiting on God in listening to His voice in the spirit as it does in some places in the liturgy (notably the second to last blessing of the Amidah ) this calls for a pause and reflection of God’s word in response to eternity. This meant by pausing, the Jewish believers would allow God to speak to them about the eternal weight and effects of His word in their lives.

The Hebrew believers of Yahweh recognized the eternality of His word. That is why I take it when Jesus said “Heavens and the earth shall pass away, but a jot from my word shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) they could very well understand this method of speech in relating with the eternality of the word of God. Selah, which meant to pause and reflect was a common way of the traditional Jewish worship in the past.

The strong effects of the heavenly scriptures cannot be minimized by human fallen tendency of being in a hurry. The Lord made sure that His people would have periods of silent meditation upon His spoken word. This is why in the New Covenant readings, especially in the book of Revelations John the Apostle often says “Whoever has an ear to listen let him hear”. Why? Because only after a period of pause and careful attention or reflection on the word, one’s mind can grasp the importance and severity of His eternal truth.  Men of old who had dedicated their lives on to God and His word, had to spend extensive periods of time in His presence for complete understanding of the importance of His word. Even today in our human conversations if I see to whom I talk to is not fully attentive to my words I do not like to speak to them anymore. As simple as this. All miss communications arises from lack of complete understanding of one another’s conversations. Let alone God’s.

In a busy world like ours people have very little time to Pause and reflect upon their walk of life. Selah means to stop and see or hear or meditate and reflect and either agree or disagree on things. Satan loves when believers have no time to spend meditating on God’s word. He being the author of confusion always likes to place us in a busy mode, where we have no time to stop and think. Can you imagine if we had daily times of devotion early in the morning with God, how it could have affected our lives. Just a moment of pause and reflection on His eternal word. This could avoid so much of our daily warfare’s and trauma’s.  This time of Selah with God’s word can even prevent many from falling into depression and even defeat the thoughts of murder and suicide. Why? Since the focus of our lives could shift from self to God and his plan.

Selah Warriors are those who by experience have learned to have many moments of silence with God and His word. The mature in Christ become more convinced that their safety zone is in these periods of silence with God. These warriors fight their good fight of faith by extended periods of silence before their living God. Ofcource as vital this secret weapon is for us, I should add that just silence with an empty mind can be as harmful as a busy mind. That is why in the scripture always the word Selah comes right after reading or hearing of the word of God. This meditative mode of the mind is the most powerful tool in the hands of all true believes, but the eastern method of yoga and other mediations that keep the mind in a limbo state are on the contrary the tools of Satan to penetrate into  our mind with evil.

An unoccupied mind can be the target of all evil. This is why the apostle of Jesus Christ says we must renew our minds with the word of God.

Silent meditation on the word of God helps us to embrace His thoughts instead of ours. Thus we gird our belt by His truth and war on the carnal thoughts of men. The enemy like to use our openness to men’s idea’s to inflict many wounds in our thought life too, and by this to penetrate into our thoughts in a reverse mode. This is why unless we choose only a few to speak too; we will always have some sort of defeat in our Christian path. That is why the Lord said to Abraham leave your country, and your people and your father’s house. Why? Because it was their influence on him that would hinder Abram to fully hear and obey His new found God.

I also would like to add that it is also true that the Bible says “In the multitude of the counselors there is wisdom” but again what councilors does the word talk about? And when? Look at the prophets of Old who waited to hear God before they did anything.

Prophet Elijah as an example running away from the threats of Queen Jezebel was so confused that was asking God for his own death.

He was scared and terrified of the threats of the enemy spoken through this evil woman and to the point that had forgotten his own calling wanted to end his life. However the Lord after providing for him supernaturally lead him to a mountain cave to have a time of Selah and rest with him.

A time to stop and think. A personal time of refreshing and renewed relationship with God. If the Lord sees us so perplexed that He could not speak to us, He would cut off our surrounding voices to have us to pause and reflect on Him alone.

Elijah in his distress had to quiet dawn to reflect and recognize the still small voice among many other emotional voices.  The 21^st century hectic life of this modern world is another one of Satan’s tools to steal this

Time of Selah or time of pause and reflection of God and His word. That is why we need to say a definite no to busyness of this age. To say no to the workaholic demonic spirits of this age, that are here to suck the life of God from us.  Just like Martha the sister of Mary of Bethany who had chosen the least important by being busy with many things and had neglected the one that was only good. Not only she had busied herself with works, she was not able to see the Selah warrior in her sister Mary. Today too, many who are busy with many things, even ministries are mocking those who take the time and stop and meditate on God’s word. Today many attend churches and get involved with the work of the ministry, but very few are warring through a complete time of reflecting on the word to correctly hear their master’s voice through His written word. Many in the Body of the Lord Jesus are more concerned about offending people around them, than God who is their only true savior and friend.

Today many carry cell phones that have limited connecting capabilities and complain when they are in an era where they have no reception, but few are concerned about the hindrances of their connection with God and His voice. They have created for themselves hindrances of connection with God, like sin, busyness wrong friends and illegal connections, and later on complain when they face disasters of all kinds. The time when God wants to speak to them they refuse by their own ideas about God and when God arises to act upon His word they get mad at Him for His just actions. Some say my god doesn’t do that!!! My god does not punish me; he loves me he says in the Bible!!! But deliberately they ignore His spoken word to their shame. Where God in His word says “ The time has come for the Lord to start judgment from His own house, and if first with us where the unbelievers and sinner would stand” they do not pause and meditate on such scripture , calling it a strange forgotten idea.

The scriptures say the Lord tries to speak to men in all the days of His earthly life, but if he has busied himself  so much that cannot hear God’s  voice in the morning, He will speak to him at night season.

In Job 33:14-18 we read “For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men, and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man; he keeps back his soul from the Pit, his life from perishing by the sword”.

Here Job says the Lord always tries to reach men, even He will put extra effort to rich men to keep our lives from the destruction and hell, but it is us who do not pause to meditate enough on His eternal truth presented to us in a way of a testament. A treasure left after His death as an eternal inheritance to us.

After all let me tell you this Church, even heavens know very well the benefits of this Selah, since the book of revelations says in Rev. 8:1 that when “He opened the seventh seal of judgment to be poured out on the earth there was a Selah in the heaven for half an hour.” Have you ever stopped or paused to know why? Why a silence in heavens? The half an hour could mean a brief moment, yet why silence in heavens?

After speaking this much about the necessity of a restful time of peace ad silence I can only presume that even the heavens who is waiting to see the final judgment of God on all the evil of this world pauses and reflects upon it, even after the seal is opened so that a last glance of patience would be uttered by heaven, before the justice of God in His wrath would take its final course.

Church this is how the righteousness of God is evidenced, even in His judgment of all wickedness and evil.