One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Psalm 77. The psalmist, Asaph, was having a tough time in the first nine verses. He was discouraged, he was weary, he was troubled, and he felt like the Lord had rejected him. He asked some tough questions too:
Has his faithful love ceased forever?
Is his promise at an end for all generations?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion? (v. 8–9)
I mean, I certainly didn’t know Asaph personally, but those must have been some dark days, y’all.
However, there’s one tiny little word that follows Asaph’s questions: Selah. It’s a word that means “to lift up,” and it’s also a musical term that means “to accentuate, to pause, to interrupt.” It’s significant because the psalmist was in a bit of a sadness spiral—he was beside himself in verses 4–9. But then he paused. And after that five-letter word, after Selah, we see a whole new perspective in verses 10–13.
So I say, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed. I will remember the Lord’s works; yes, I will remember your ancient wonders. I will reflect on all you have done and meditate on your actions. God, your way is holy. What god is great like God?” (vv. 10–13)
That selah—that pause—is almost like an aha moment for Asaph. In fact, Matthew Henry once wrote, “Thus was he going on with his dark and dismal apprehensions when, on a sudden, he first checked himself with that word, Selah.’”3 I could even take Henry’s commentary one step further: Asaph checked himself before he wrecked himself.
And in all seriousness, there are times when all of us need a little selah. We need a break, a pause, a MOMENT to reflect and remember and recalibrate. Here are three good things to remember when you, like the psalmist, are walking through sadness or difficulty (or maybe when you’re just worn slap out):
- Remember how the Lord brought you to this place. His faithfulness and kindness have always been there waiting for you. He has always been training you for the work He is calling you to do. You are where you are for a reason.
- Ponder what you’ve seen Him do. The Hebrew form of ponder is “to have a talk with oneself.” Maybe you need to have a talk with yourself about the mighty ways God has worked in your life. Go to Scripture and find verses that remind you of His greatness. Read them out loud.
- Follow His way, not yours. His ways are not our ways, and we should be so grateful for that. Look at verse 13; His ways in your life are holy. He is a great God, and you will never regret following His leading and direction.
One more thing that strikes me about this passage? Asaph said “Selah” after verse 3, but that first pause didn’t shift his perspective. He tried again after verse 9. So don’t give up. Don’t stop pausing. Don’t stop “lifting up.” You never know when the aha moment will come, but when it does, it’s a game-changer.
Selah.
1. Have you ever been through an emotional or spiritual ordeal that wore you down? Talk about that a little bit.
2. When you deliberately pause in your life—when you selah, so to speak—what does that look like for you? Do you like to spend time alone? Go to your room to pray? Go to an especially meaningful place?
3. What’s one part of your story that initially seemed random, but now you can see that it was the Lord’s holy way in your life?
4. Write out Psalm 46:10–11.
Today’s Prayer