How often we choose labor when He says “Rest”
There is a blessed resting in lying still,
in letting His hand mold us. (1)
Selah!
If you read the Psalms regularly, you have seen this word frequently.
Selah!
It is a musical term which means rest, pause, break.
Frequently, either in between sections of a psalm or at the end of a psalm, we are instructed to selah. It is a time to rest and take a deep breath.
Singers and public speakers know they must take a rest, a deep breath, to refill their lungs, before they can sing or speak further. The failure to take adequate pauses and a deep breath robs your voice of power and narrows the range of tone.
Selah provides a blessing for the listener as well.
The brief respite from noise, sound, words, or music allows the listener to soak in what they have just heard. Without pauses the words, notes, and lyrics begin to back-up in the brain like rush hour traffic. Without pauses, the listener becomes so overwhelmed, he stops listening.
Without pauses we lose our voice and our ears.
In ministry, my life is a marathon from Labor Day to Memorial Day. However, from Thanksgiving to Easter it is a sprint. When I get to Noon on Easter Sunday, I am spent. I need to pause.
If you are a daily reader of my devotionals, you have noticed that I have posted by devotionals later and later each day, instead of them being ready when you rise in the morning. My internal warning signs have been flashing in front of me Selah, Selah, Selah!
This morning, I finally took the pause I desperately needed. In fact I plan to Selah the rest of the day, piddling around the house and yard letting my mind and heart wander as I ramble through the day completing inconsequential tasks.
I will be unproductive, while my spirit reproduces.
As I read my morning devotions (I read through 12 each day) over half of them said, SELAH!! The words were different, but God’s message was clear.
I feel better already.
If the voices and tasks in your life are beginning to look like a train wreck during rush hour, I encourage you to selah!
It’s a “Be still and know I am God day” for me!”
If you need one of these take it, even if you have to play tag-team parenting with your spouse.
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Reimann, Jim; Cowman, Mrs. Charles E. (2008-09-02). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 154). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Bread Crumbs - Devotions for Life 
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