Please press the pause button…

There is a word in the Old Testament of the Bible that is used a lot in the book of Psalms. The word is Selah. It can be a difficult process to take Hebrews words or terms and bring them into the context of our daily life in 2009. Without going into too much detail, the word means “to weigh”, as in “The lawyer should weigh his words carefully.” And what is really being implied is that this word means to take a moment and consider carefully what is about to be said or done.

It really points to the idea of a purposeful Pause. Wow…I like that.

Beginning on May 31st we will embark on a 12 Sunday adventure into the book of Psalms. This will be our summer series. What a great way to look at summer time – Pause. The word Selah figures prominently into the book of Psalms…as if to say, “Wait a second, pause here for a moment.”

Everything moves so fast and our lives are filled with so many responsibilities that we really don’t take much time to pause…over anything! Food is consumed quickly, friendships are maintained hastily, and errands are done as if we were being timed for some sort of record. Race, race, run, run. It’s like we are trying to shove everything we can into just a short period of time. And what we end up with is perhaps quantity but very little quality.

For me this hurts the most in my spiritual life. I study for sermons, or read the Bible too quickly just to get through the Bible Reading Schedule. We live in this amazing time where we can get more “spiritual feeding” that anyone could possibly consume. I subscribe to multiple podcasts from other churches and leaders. I have magazines and devotionals, books and commentaries and Christian radio and, and, and, and….

Anyway, maybe it is just me, but I really feel like it is time for us to take a moment to Pause…to Selah…to weigh carefully…what God is sharing with us in his Scriptures. The Psalms are a great place to settle in and Pause and we are going to do that.

So what does it all mean? Well, I wish for myself and I wish for all of you that we would slow down and enjoy every bite that we take of God’s word. My wife is fond of saying that the first few bites of any awesome food are always the best. And sometimes more is not better…it is simply more. So slow down, take a small portion, twirl around in it a little bit and ask God to help you savor each bite. Don’t go for quantity so much…go for quality. I think we will all be amazed at how much we can grow and change by marinating a little bit in His love letter for us. What do think? OK…ready…set…pause.