סֶלָה (Selah)

"You have to play the rests... In the air."

I can't count the amount of times I've heard that statement during piano lessons. Rests are those annoying little squiggles that someone spattered relentlessly through my sheet music. I found them quite a pain to give a fair amount of recognition to. My teacher preferred me to play them "in the air." I preferred to let everything slur together.

Throughout the Psalms, and even a couple times in Habakkuk, there is a tiny word that is put in with the prayers, pleads, and praises. Selah. It is said to be a musical term. A term that means something along the lines of "pause" or "rest." No one really seems to have a firm definition of it. But God didn't just throw it in there for the heck of it. He had a purpose behind every word in the Bible.

In those "rests" and "pauses," we are given the opportunity to stop and think about what we just read. I think too many people glance over those rests. That is where we are given the chance to make it our own, thinking over what we just read and really letting it sink it. I dare to say that too few people use the selah as an opportunity to sit and think.

When you hear an orchestra or a skilled piano player, they "play" the rests. They build, and then suddenly stop. It is silent. In that silence your mind is processing what you just heard and anticipating what is to come. Sometimes it is short, for a quarter beat, or maybe it is long, for a full measure. It gives you the time to appreciate what you just heard. Or in this case, read.

I play the rests now. I enjoy building up to them and playing them dramatically. Which, when you think about it, is kind of ironic. I'm not "doing" anything but giving my fingers a slight break. The power of the rest lies in the listener's mind, making them savor what they've heard.

The beauty lies within the silence. Play the rests.

Thou art my hiding place;
Thou dost preserve me from trouble;
Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah.

(Psalms 32:7)