Songs bring back memories. It could have been years since you heard the song, but once you hear it, your mind goes back to that place, and before you even notice it, you are singing it word for word. Growing up in the ’80s, these songs bring back many memories for me:
- Toto: Africa
- Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
- Survivor: I of the Tiger
- Michael Jackson: Thriller
- Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar on Me
- Hank Williams Jr: A Country Boy Can Survive
Be gracious to me on my song selection. I tried to give a broad range. Songs are tied to experiences, and those experiences are tied to memories. Songs have words, which are set to music to help us articulate the good and hard memories. This is why I have personally enjoyed our summer in the Psalm series. The Psalms or Psalter was the hymnbook of the ancient Israelites. Most scholars agree that the Psalms were poetry set to music. The Psalms resonate with us today because they provide words for both the good and the hard life brings.
It doesn’t take long when you are reading in the Psalms, and a little word begins to be repeated throughout the book. Have you noticed it? It is a Hebrew word. It is translated into English as “Selah.” The word occurs 71 times in the Psalms. The word “Selah” is only found in the Psalms and a couple of times in the book of Habakkuk. Most often, we see the word at the end of Psalms, but occasionally at the beginning or middle. It does make us ask the questions, “Why is it there?” What is the significance of it, if any?
Remember, we know the Psalms are poetry composed to music, so this means the Psalms have both a literary and a liturgical component to them. Since they are literary in nature, they were written with thematic threads intended to have an emotional effect on the readers. But there are also liturgical in function, meaning they were meant to be sung in public. Understanding the Psalms as both literary and liturgical is helpful as we seek to understand “Selah.”
What God is instructing us in the word “Selah” is something that doesn’t come naturally to us. To slow down. The idea of “Selah” was a cue, perhaps a spoken cue, to take a pause in the progress of the music to consider, meditate and weigh the significance of what has been sung. To allow the words to stir the feelings. Take a moment to do what in our day is counter-cultural; sit in it. Allow the words to affect you!
Once we slow down, which is no small endeavor in our hurried pace, “Selah” communicates that you are now ready to praise. It’s only when we pause that we are ready to praise. The praise is both on an individual and corporate level. “Selah” reminds us that God called us to continually offer Him praise from our lips as we openly profess His name. We praise Him in the good and the hard.
To be honest, I have never been good at pausing (slowing down) or praising (thanking God for the good and the hard). That’s what makes living out “selah” a challenge for me.
But I do remember when I was a child in the ’80s what it felt like to get lost in the music. I would put the cassette tape in my boombox. I would turn it up. I would pause enough to reflect on the words. And before I knew it, I was lost in the moment, singing my heart out to the words.
I know we are not singing 1980’s music. We are singing something much more compelling and inspirational. This is God’s song we are singing. A song, which describes His love, His goodness, and His faithfulness to us. May God give us the grace to pause and slow down so we don’t miss it. Then, may we get lost in the song, and before you know it, start singing it out to everyone around us. I think that is when we will experience what the Psalmist was talking about: “Selah!”