Empty Space

I don’t know about you, but I do not like empty space.

I am a filler.

Hand me an empty calendar, and I will write in all the things for all the days with color-coded pens.

Give an empty schedule and I will fill that bad boy right up.

A blank wall? I will have a picture hung within minutes.

I do not thrive well in emptiness.

Isn’t it like God, then, to create holes and space with nothing to fill?

Selah is found in the Bible seventy-four times. It is found in the book of Psalms seventy-one times and in Habbakkuk three times. While there is no real translation of the word, most believe it to conjure up pause or rest in an empty space.

Selah is that empty space where there is no sound; no movement. A moment of pause. Empty space with purpose.

Too often, I am ready to rush through the empty places. I don’t want to stop and rest. I don’t like to listen to the quiet…well, unless that means I am in my house alone after a long weekend of boys in and out of the house. Then, I will take all the quiet I can get.

Selah is difficult for me. The empty places, those pauses, scare me a little. I feel a need to be doing and really, God is calling me to stop.

The other day, I woke up tired. Have you ever had those days? You had a great night’s sleep but still woke up tired the next day. I usually wake up and immediately change into my workout clothes. If I don’t, I am too tempted to stay in my jammies after getting the boys off to school. On this day, I decided the pjs would stay on a bit longer.

I got everyone off to school, came home, made another cup of coffee, and plopped on my couch in my office to do some work. As I opened the computer with a blank mind and no thoughts, I heard God tell me to stop.

Stop striving.

Stop rushing to get things done.

Just stop.

He didn’t give me instructions for when to go again. No plans for what to do next. Just stop. Selah. I was forced into that empty space that I dread (if I’m being honest).

I ended up going on a walk that day. No podcasts. Just music. I also took a nap which I never do. I am not a napper. They usually make me more tired. But, on this day, that nap was glorious.

God was intentional with the use of that little word, Selah. He was also intentional, in my opinion, to use the word 74 times. He wants us to stop. He desires for us to rest in the empty space. He knows that it is in this space we can truly hear Him. It is in the quiet where He is found.

Selah. 

Pause.

Rest.

Be still in the empty spaces.

Love & Blessings,

Meg