Selah - Pause and Think

All the earth worships You and sings praises to You; They sing praises to Your name – selah. Psalm 44:6 ESV

Last month my brother celebrated his 90th birthday so I called him to congratulate him on reaching such a milestone. Then in my “sisterly” way, I said, “However, you will never live long enough for me to forgive you for raising those bantam roosters in our backyard when we were growing up.” I really hated those roosters! They chased me and pecked at my heels every time I went into our backyard. To which he promptly retorted, “It’s time for you to give that a rest, sis, because that was way back in the 1940’s.” Then we both laughed. 

As you have guessed, this has been an ongoing conversation between the two of us for many years, but this time, it made me think of growing up and being in high school. For some reason I started thinking about one of my favorite teachers. There was so much I loved about that teacher but she had a catch phrase she often used when she was about to teach us something important and it always irritated me no end. So often she said, “Now put your thinking caps on.” That phrase always grated on my nerves. After I graduated from high school, I hoped I might never have to hear it again. 

How wrong could I be. It’s found everywhere only using different words. I found it in Psalms with David saying, “selah” (pause and think - Psalm 44:6 above). Then I found it in Proverbs, “Ponder (weigh in your mind) the path of thy feet…” (Proverbs 4:26 KJV).

Jesus even had to remind me to put on my thinking cap when He said, “Consider (think through) the lilies how they grow…” (Matt.6:28 and Luke 12:27 KJV).

As irritating as it was, my favorite teacher’s catchphrase was perhaps the most important thing she taught me. It seems the idea of “putting on our thinking caps,” when we’re learning is recommended even from the highest authority, Jesus, Himself. 

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, it’s so easy for us to harbor wrong thoughts and to even be irritated by right ones. We praise You for showing us the error of our ways, and we thank You for sending Jesus to be our greatest teacher and for His words found in the Bible to show us the way.  Amen. 

Judy Welch