For God’s word to exercise its transforming impact, one’s mind must be renewed—renovated or remodeled to think differently (Romans 12:2). This does not “just happen” when one reads the Scriptures. It occurs when a Bible student reads and intentionally digests the sweeter-than-honey Word of God.
Some of the strongest words of rebuke that ever came from the lips of the Lord were occasioned by the failure of those who knew the facts of history or the text of Scripture but did not get the message (see Matthew 16:5-11, 22:29ff.). In the book of Psalms, we have divine help in this area. In several psalms, the Holy Spirit has placed stop signs (see Psalms 3, 4, 7, 9, and others). In the Hebrew language, the word for “stop” is spelled S-e-l-a-h. These are places where God explicitly tells you and me: “Let that soak in.”
One writer has suggested the following acronym for helping the diligent Bible reader when he comes to the word “Selah” in the Scriptures: S-stop E-exalt L-listen A-and H-heed. The next time you come to a stop sign in Scripture, do not just slow down a little by Stomping Twice on Pedal; instead, Stop Exalt Listen And Heed.
There is much to absorb whenever God’s speaking to us has a pregnant pause.
