Selah.
I've been listening to Jenny & Tyler's latest album Open Your Doors. It's a new favorite. Each song was written so beautifully and profoundly, neatly putting into words the mess of my heart lately. This will sound cheesy, but it's basically the soundtrack of my life this past year. The second song is titled, "Abide." The last song is titled, "Selah."
A few days ago, before I discovered Jenny & Tyler's album, I began looking for and studying Scripture on abiding in Jesus. I Googled "Bible passages about abiding in God," and stumbled across this article on abiding in prayer.
What struck me particularly was the section on joining the selah of the psalmist. It's kind of embarrassing, but I've never taken the time to look up what selah really means. It occurs 71 times in Psalms, but for some reason I never thought twice about figuring out what it meant, and if I did, I didn't think much of its meaning.
There is difficulty translating this word exactly, but it has been said to probably be a musical term or command that means "stop and listen" -- an interlude of music where the singing stops and you are instructed to pause and think about what has been sung. The etymology included on Blue Letter Bible says it means "to lift up, exalt... a technical musical term probably showing accentuation, pause, interruption."
In our daily lives, selah is a command to be still before God, to listen, and to abide in His presence. As I drove home tonight, I sang along with Jenny & Tyler. But as the album came to a close and I turned the street corner, "Selah" came on and there were no words. I couldn't sing along anymore. And instead I was silent, pondering the music and the silence, and the Creator of both -- and I understood the meaning of selah. My spirit knew peace, and I simply abided in His presence.
the sky at dusk tonight
No comments:
Post a Comment