Selah Moments in the Midst of Mayhem

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Did you realize that there are moments when life feels less like a carefully planned journey and more like a shopping cart with one bad wheel? You start the day with a plan. A cup of coffee. Your bible. A prayer. And maybe even a quiet moment with the Lord. The good news is that God never asked us to find peace by eliminating every chaotic circumstance. He invites us to find peace in His presence all while being in the middle of them. Mayhem is “a state of violent disorder or riotous confusion or havoc.”

When life refuses to be quiet it is difficult to even think straight. That is where Selah comes in. The word Selah, found throughout the Psalms, carries the idea of pausing, reflecting, and considering what has just been said. In other words, Scripture occasionally tells us to stop. Not because everything is finished, or because the problems have disappeared. Nor is it because everyone has suddenly decided to behave either. We pause because God is still God.

You may be wondering if I really understand the mayhem dilemma. I understand more than you know after raising four children, with three of them being teenage boys all at the same time!

Exodus 14:14 is one of my favorite verses. It states,“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

God does not say “Be still when the bills are paid.” Or how about, “Be still when your family gets along.” Better yet, “Be still when the news stops making your blood pressure rise.” All He says is... Be still.

Sometimes the greatest act of faith is refusing to let chaos dictate the condition of your soul. We live in a world that seems to have developed a serious allergic condition to stillness. We scroll while waiting. We text while eating. We check email while watching television. We listen to podcasts while driving. And some of us have become so accustomed to noise that five minutes of silence feels like an emergency. Yet in the scriptures we see something that cannot be ignored. We see that Jesus regularly withdrew from the noise.

Luke 5:16 tells us: “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Think about that for a moment. Jesus contended with crowds of people with needs and demands. He could rarely go anywhere without people following Him. People always had questions to ask and lets not forget all the sick people who needed healing and all the questions hurled at him by the Jewish leaders. And yet He made room for solitude.

If Jesus needed moments away from the noise, perhaps we should stop feeling guilty about needing them too. A Selah moment isn't laziness nor is it avoidance or spiritual procrastination. It is an intentional pause to remember who is actually in charge.

There are times when your soul needs to put the world on Do Not Disturb. This is not because the world has stopped making noise. Somewhere deep inside, one decides that the noise doesn’t get the final word.

A Selah moment might happen in your prayer closet. It might happen on your back porch with a cup of coffee. It might happen in your car before you walk into the house. It might even happen in the grocery-store parking lot while you sit there for three extra minutes pretending you're looking for something in your purse. The good news, is that no matter the place or time, God can meet you there.

You don't need stained-glass windows to encounter His presence. Sometimes all you need is a quiet heart and a few uninterrupted minutes. When we rush, we often hear the loudest voice. Fear says, “This is never going to work.” Anxiety says, “What if everything falls apart?” Offense says, “You better tell them exactly what you think.” Discouragement says, “Why bother trying?”

However, when we pause, we create space to hear another voice. The voice of the Shepherd.

Jesus said in John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Sometimes the problem isn't that God isn't speaking. The real issue is that we are surrounded by too much noise to hear Him. Selah gives your spirit room to listen.

Let me encourage you beloved. If I have learned one thing in all my fifty plus years of ministry, it is this: Don’t make any permanent decisions in the midst of temporary mayhem.

This is one of the reasons Selah moments matter so much. Mayhem has a way of making everything feel permanent. For instance, a bad day feels like a bad life. A difficult season feels like a hopeless future. A painful conversation feels like the end of a relationship. A closed door feels like God has forgotten you exist.

What do all of these outcomes have in common? Emotions. And emotions my friend make terrible prophets. What feels enormous at 10:00 p.m. can look completely different after prayer, sleep, and a little perspective.

So before you send that angry text… Selah.

Before you make the announcement… Selah.

Before you quit...Selah.

Before you assume God isn't moving because you can't see anything happening… Selah.

Pause.

Pray.

Breathe.

Read Scripture.

Then decide.

Some of the most profound moments in my life have come when I paused before the God of heaven and asked, “Lord, what is your perspective about all of this?”

The trap so many encounter day in and day out is that we often want God to hurry. “Lord, fix this.” “Lord, change them.” “Lord, open the door.” “Lord, give me an answer.” But sometimes God gives us something we didn't ask for:

A Pause. And that pause may be where He changes us before He changes the situation.

Psalm 27:14 reminds us: “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Waiting doesn't mean God is doing nothing. Sometimes waiting is where faith grows roots. Sometimes silence is where trust becomes stronger. Sometimes the pause is where God reminds us that our peace was never supposed to depend on everything going according to plan.

You don't have to schedule a spiritual retreat in the mountains to practice Selah. And for those of you who respond to these moments by running off to the next conference or revival or Christian meeting to get ministered to, I have a word for you: Selah.

Try this: Before reaching for your phone in the morning, reach for Scripture. Before responding to something frustrating, take a breath and pray. Before allowing the day's headlines to determine your emotional temperature, spend a few minutes in God's presence.

Then when something unexpected happens, ask: “Lord, what do You want me to remember right now?”

And when your day begins unraveling faster than a cheap sweater, stop. Stop and take a breath, then Selah. Remember friend, God is still present. God is still faithful. God is still good. And... God is still working; even when your schedule looks like it was designed by a committee of caffeinated squirrels.

Perhaps that's the greatest lesson of Selah. We don't pause because life has become peaceful. We pause because God is our peace in the middle of it.

The storm may still be raging. The phone may still be ringing. The bills may still be sitting on the counter. The answer may still be delayed. The situation may still be unresolved. But you can stop long enough to remember this truth: God has not lost control.

Isaiah 26:3 says: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Peace isn't always the absence of chaos. Sometimes peace is knowing who is with you while the chaos is happening. So when life gets loud, don't automatically get louder. When everything speeds up, don't assume you have to speed up with it. When mayhem comes knocking, open the door if you must, but don't invite it to sit in your soul.

Friend, take a breath. Open your Bible. Lift your eyes. And remember the ancient invitation hidden throughout the Psalms: Selah. Pause. Reflect. And above all, “Remember God is here.”

Sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do in the middle of mayhem… is simply stop long enough to remember that He is still God.

After you do, prepare yourself. Why? Because the phone will still ring. Or someone needs something. Or, the dog throws up and the baby gets sick. And if that is not enough, thrown in the mix is the washing machine making a noise that sounds suspiciously expensive or your inbox multiplies like loaves and fishes...minus the miracle.

And when it all happens before 9:00 a.m., you find yourself wondering, Lord, was this really the day You had in mind?

In the midst of the mayhem you can smile and "know that you know " the most important thing that you can do right at that moment is “Be Still.” Selah.

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