Sélah

Finding answers during periods of turmoil takes time. First, we must find and formulate the questions. And even before that, we must simply face the pain.

We live in a generation where we desire instant access to everything…. instant delivery (prime), instant service (uber), instant movies (Netflix), instant music (Spotify), instant information (Google) – all our questions have to be answered by return. But life is a journey with its own pace. The biblical word ‘selah’ is one of the most mysterious and magnificent in all Scripture. You don’t often hear or read people talk about it. In fact, not many (if at all any) know exactly what it means, although it occurs seventy-one times in the book of Psalms alone. It’s either the writer was addicted to the word (like Londoners are addicted to ‘innit‘, and Nigerians are addicted to ‘abi?‘), or the word holds some significant value which we should all take note of.

‘Selah’ is a musical direction to pause, to stop and listen, to reflect on what has just happened, and prepare for what’s to come next.

Sometimes the Spirit whispers ‘Selah’ to our souls. Selah to our plans, Selah to our dreams and aspirations. We all wanna jet off and be a millionaire billionaire, jet off and marry a rich person the love our life, get to the top of the career ladder start a successful business as quickly as possible. We all wanna arrive our destination so quick that we forget to stop and think. We just wanna get it all and get it all now! (Next day delivery isn’t fast enough anymore, we want same day delivery).

But the Spirit sometimes wants us to pause, to wait. He puts us in a season of Selah. Such seasons of waiting rarely feel like a blessing at the time. They may seem like demonic interruptions in the divine trajectory of our plans. Maybe because it isn’t instant access as we most often desire. Four-four rhythm feels right – it comes easily; jazz takes work. We long- we wait – to resolve ambiguity, to find explanations, to extract meaning, to roll up our sleeves and get busy.

The word ‘selah’ was adopted and adapted by German opera to instruct singers to be quiet while the orchestra crescendos.

Selah demands that we stop, that we fall silent when God thunders. Selah can be one of the most important things we never want to do.

How do we know when God is calling us to a season of Selah? Take a journey with me as I explore the seasons of Selah in a sequel to this post.