I love words and I love to study words.  However, sometimes this presents a problem because I get lost down a bazillion rabbit holes due to my curiosity in examining how a word is used throughout the Bible, unearthing its numerous occurrences and locating the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the translated English word. This is why crafting a sermon or writing a blog post takes me hours upon hours. You’ll find me buried under a heap of Bible concordances, dictionaries and lexicons, only to discover my sermon draft has an 8,000-word count and is timing out around sixty minutes. Oops!

Years ago, a friend made a sign for me that hangs on the wall in our guest room, which also serves as my home study space.  The carefully hand-crafted sign simply reads Selah. Have you seen this word in your Bible? Have you ever wondered what it means? It is an often-overlooked word, yet it appears seventy-one times in the Book of Psalms and three times in the ancient poetry sections of the Old Testament Book of Habbakuk. Selah is a rather tricky Hebrew word to translate. You will often see the word appear mid-sentence, indicating a separation between two phrases or stanzas of artistic work in musical and poetic terms. While unsure of its exact definition, some scholars interpret Selah as “to hang or weigh,” while others believe it to mean “pause and think on this.” 

Be still.

Ponder. Hang here a while and weigh the thought.

Quiet ourselves.

Kind of like the words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” 

Selah has become one of my favorite words and I want to tell you why.  Thirteen years ago, I was introduced to this word while on vacation at a cabin nestled deep in the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Pennsylvania.  The cabin was owned by our dear friends, Tom and Wina Mowery, who extended an invitation for us to use this haven of theirs during the week of Thanksgiving. So, off we went with our four young children in tow along with our black labrador retriever and all the fixings for our first-ever Thanksgiving meal in a cabin. Other than a new adventure (while secretly praying we had electricity, running water, and working toilets), I wasn't sure what to expect. We pulled into the driveway, walked up to the front porch, and I noticed a rustic wooden sign hanging beside the door.  Can you guess what the sign said? Their cabin had a name.  

Selah.

I can remember being curious about this word as we unloaded the minivan and started to settle in for the week ahead.  Early the first morning, while sitting alone in the living room, I grabbed my study Bible and turned to the concordance (you will find this in the back of most of your Bibles). I located the word Selah and began reading a few scriptural references where the word appeared. I was intrigued.

As the week went on, I longed to wake up before everyone else and begin my day sitting beside the hot coals of the fire lingering from the night before. You see, I was a busy wife and mom, homeschooling our children during that season of life, so removing myself from the entanglement of daily stress and setting aside the demands of life, even for just a week, was indeed a blessing. I quickly understood why our friends named their cabin Selah.  It, too, became a dwelling place that allowed us time to reflect, pray, and renew—a time to Selah.

There is a rhythm to life, isn’t there? A relentless, fast pulse that can keep us sprinting from one moment to the next with e-mails and text messages that need a response, deadlines, phone calls, meetings, events, etc.  Amid all the noise and the rush, the still, small moments get lost. But what if, this year, we find those moments again? What if we chose to pause instead of simply rushing through?

Selah—a gentle word that whispers stop, breathe, reflect.

Selah—a moment of stillness in the chaos.

Selah—a nudge to reclaim the lost moments and truly savor them.

Selah—simply be.

For over a decade now, this has been a meaningful word for me, and I pray it resonates with you as you plan and set goals for 2025.  Will you include moments of Selah to pause and reflect on who God is, listen for what He is doing in your life, and discover who you are in Him?  

Soli Deo Gloria ~

Pastor Jen